Giants @ Dodgers August 13, 2018: Kershaw vs. Bumgarner, Round 11

Photo: Stacie Wheeler

The Dodgers (64-55) retreat home for a short homestand and three-game series with the Giants (59-60) before they head up north to Seattle this weekend. After losing three straight heartbreakers to the Rockies at Coors Field, some time at home – even if brief – is welcomed. The bullpen is a mess, the offense isn’t firing on all cylinders, and even the defense has been problematic. The Giants would of course love to be the spoilers this year, and the final series of the regular season in San Francisco worries me. For now it would be nice to not fall further out of first place, otherwise the final series of the season might not even mean anything.

Giants
Dodgers
7:10 PM
Los Angeles
RF
McCutchen
2B
Dozier
2B
d’Arnaud
3B
Turner
C
Posey
SS
Machado
3B
Longoria
CF
Hernandez
1B
Slater
LF
Taylor
SS
Crawford
RF
Puig
LF
Hernandez 1B Bellinger
CF
Duggar
C
Barnes
P
Bumgarner (L)
P
Kershaw (L)

It’ll be a good old-fashioned Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 2.58 ERA, 3.10 FIP) vs. Madison Bumgarner (4-4, 2.69 ERA, 3.58 FIP) matchup on #LeftHandersDay. The two aces have faced each other 11 times in their careers, but it’s been awhile. The last time the NL West foes matched up was on September 19, 2016.

Kershaw’s dominance against San Francisco is legendary when it comes to the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. In 42 career starts against the Giants, Kersh is 22-10 with a 1.60 ERA and 320 (!) strikeouts in 310 1/3 innings. He’s only faced the Giants once this season, back on April 8, and allowed one run on six hits in seven innings.

Last time out in Oakland, Kershaw wasn’t involved in the decision after striking out just one batter over six frames and only inducing four swings and misses on 97 pitches. That’s definitely not the Kershaw we know. Even though Kersh wasn’t the sharpest, and he’s still yet to reach 100 strikeouts on the year, he kept the Dodgers in the game. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The bullpen and Yasmani Grandal couldn’t hold on to the ball or the tie.

The Dodgers still have the best overall ERA in the NL (3.53), and their starting pitchers also lead the league in ERA (3.30). The bullpen is eighth in the NL with a 3.92 ERA, but August has been an especially rough month for the bullpen who have the third-worst ERA in baseball (6.55) for the month. The Cardinals’ bullpen has a miniscule 0.99 ERA this month.

Bumgarner is coming off a solid seven innings against the Astros despite coming away with a no-decision. He’s struggled on the road (4.44 ERA) versus at home (1.71 ERA). He’s pitched very well in his two starts this month allowing just one run and striking out 12 in 12 innings. Overall in his career against the Dodgers, he’s 15-10 with a 2.60 ERA in 30 games (29 starts) with 188 strikeouts in 190 2/3 innings. He’s 9-7 with a 2.42 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) at Dodger Stadium.

Enrique Hernandez is batting cleanup against MadBum. He’s hitting .455/.471/.970/1.440 with five doubles and four home runs against the quick-tempered left-hander.

Yasiel Puig and Kiké are both starting to my delight.

It’s the little things.

Speaking of entertaining things, we still get to the enjoy #pitcherswhorake here in the NL. Kershaw is hitting .200 this season with six base hits in 30 at-bats. Bumgarner hasn’t had a good year at the plate and is batting .083 with two hits in 24 at-bats. German Marquez is leading the NL with a .357 batting average among pitchers with at least 20 at-bats. Kershaw is tied with Jhoulys Chacin and Vince Velasquez, rounding out the top 10.

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There was a roster move before the game.

An update on Kenley Jansen was also given.

Finally, check out this iconic t-shirt.

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It’s time to snap the three-game losing streak and rattle off some wins. There’s 43 games remaining in the regular season, and it would be best for our collective emotional health for the season not to be decided in that final series in ‘Frisco.

About Stacie Wheeler

Stacie Wheeler, born and raised in So Cal, has been writing about the Dodgers since 2010. She wrote daily as the co-editor of Lasorda's Lair for five long years, and she has also written for Dodgers Nation, Dodger Blue 1958 and The Hardball Times. She currently contributes to True Blue LA. Stacie graduated from the University Of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Cinema-Television. You can also watch her videos on her YouTube channel, DishingUpTheDodgers.