Giants @ Dodgers July 29, 2017: The real Rich Hill is back

Photo: Stacie Wheeler

The Dodgers, like they have all season, came back in the late innings to take the first game of the series against the Giants thanks to Corey Seager and his band of merry men.

Giants
Dodgers
1:05 p.m. PT
Los Angeles
CF
Span
LF
Taylor
2B
Gomez
SS
Seager
RF
Pence
3B
Turner
C
Posey
1B
Bellinger
SS
Crawford
2B
Forsythe
1B
Hwang
RF
Puig
LF
Hernandez C Grandal
3B
Tomlinson
CF
Pederson
P
Blach (L)
P
Hill (L)

Today, the Dodgers are sending Rich Hill to the … hill … to have his second shot at the Giants. He started against them on May 16 in a 2-1 loss in San Francisco. His line was solid: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 6 K. That start came before a bad stretch for him. In his next five starts, he had a 6.55 ERA, 5.20 FIP and a 3.9 K-BB% (which is awful).

Since then, though, Hill has been the guy we saw last season and the guy who earned his $48 million deal.

Last six starts:

  • 1.93 ERA
  • 1.94 FIP
  • 29.7 K-BB%
  • Team W-L: 5-1

So, yeah, the good Rich Hill is here again.

The lineup looks a little different than last night. Yasiel Puig is back and moved up from the No. 8 spot (which, OK) because the Giants are throwing their second of three consecutive left-handed starters. Yasmani Grandal gets the nod today over Austin Barnes, which is fine. But fully expect Barnes to be used in this game, especially since Kyle Farmer is on the active roster. Also, Joc Pederson is getting his second straight start against a left-handed pitcher. He fared pretty well last night against Matt Moore (2-for-2 with a double and walk).

Of note for the Giants, Brandon Belt is out again. He was scratched yesterday, but he has also been the subject of trade talks. We’ll see if anything materializes. Onto the news.

——

Sounds like Adrian Gonzalez is on the mend. He’s also going to spend some time with Rancho Cucamonga before the Dodgers think about activating him. While he has been bad this season (mostly because of injury), if he can come back and be healthy, he’d be a nice addition to the lineup against right-handed pitching. He’d also be a nice weapon to have off the bench.

Brandon McCarthy coming back and being the guy he was for the first half of the season would be quite welcome. Still, it won’t deter the Dodgers in their trade deadline pursuits.

Brock Stewart getting more action is a good thing. That is, if he’s still here next week.

This friggin’ guy. Clayton Kershaw appears to be ahead of schedule. Let’s just hope and/or the Dodgers don’t rush back.

Oh, and the Giants have adjusted their rotation to have Madison Bumgarner start tomorrow night. This appears to be for no other reason than for him to get a start against the Dodgers. Perhaps this is the beginning of their second-half surge.

About Dustin Nosler

Avatar photo
Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 at his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue. He co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a 1-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, Calif.