Dodgers Look To Catch Giants In Important Series

It is not often that a team gets the chance to dethrone a rival by taking their spot by defeating said team in a series, but that is exactly the case, as the Los Angeles Dodgers looks to take the NL West division top spot from the San Francisco Giants.

The race in the NL West is very close, with LA sitting only 1.5 games behind the Giants and the Dodgers are sending their three best pitchers out to go up against the Giants.

Zack Greinke will kick off the series with Clyton Kershaw going to the mound on Saturday and Hyun-Jin Ryu bring the series home for the Dodgers on Sunday.

Greinke is the Dodgers’ ace pitcher. He has a 2.90 ERA and is 11-6 on the season. Greinke has had trouble settling into games. In his last outing he allowed four runs in the first inning against St. Louis. He did settle in to pitch for 5 2/3 innings, not allowing another run. He has allowed 12 runs in the first inning so far this season.

The Giants will not have their best starters on the mound. Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson pitched in the first two games out of the All-Star break. Therefore, the back of the Giants rotation are left to battle the Dodgers.

Tim Lincecum will take the mound in the first game of the series. Lincecum last time on the mound was in a 14-inniing game against the Philadelphia Phillies this past Tuesday. Lincecum closed the game, pitching two-thrids of the last inning. He walked one and allowed no hits, leading to a Giants win.

His last start was on Sunday against the Seattle Marlins. He went seven innings, but allowed a homer and had two wild pitches that led to Seattle picking up three runs and gave San Francisco the loss.

Lincecum has a 3.65 ERA and is 9-6 on the season.

The Dodgers moneyline is set at -123. To bet on the Giants the moneyline is set at +113.