Los Angeles @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 30, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 5, San Francisco 6
Chad Billingsley will pitch on short rest Saturday afternoon when the Los Angeles Dodgers meet the host San Francisco Giants in the second contest of a three-game series.
The Dodgers faced a quandary due to Clayton Kershaw’s five-game suspension and Billingsley quickly bought into the idea of starting Saturday when it was broached by pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
It will be the first time in Billingsley’s career that he will start on three days rest. In his last start on Tuesday, the right-hander threw just 84 pitches in six scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres.
When you factor in that Billingsley (9-5) is currently the hottest Los Angeles pitcher and threw a complete-game shutout against the Giants on July 21, the idea made a lot of sense for the Dodgers.
The 15 consecutive scoreless innings has lowered Billingsley’s ERA to 4.00. He has allowed just eight hits and four walks during that stretch.
Billingsley’s shutout against the Giants was the second of his career - his 2008 shutout also was against San Francisco - and improved his career mark against San Francisco to 5-2 with a 3.22 ERA.
Barry Zito (8-6) starts for the Giants and he was the losing pitcher in the 2-0 shutout thrown by Billingsley.
Zito pitched well that night, allowing two runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings. He’s 6-6 lifetime with a 4.01 ERA against the Dodgers.
The hurler is just 1-4 over his last eight starts, but he has allowed three earned runs or less in six of the outings.
Zito’s season ERA is 3.49, but he’s fared better at home with a 2.65 ERA in 11 starts.
A bad sign for Zito is that Rafael Furcal emerged from a 1-for-23 slump by going 3-for-3 with two walks in San Francisco's victory in the series opener on Friday.
Furcal annually rakes against Zito with a .387 career batting average that includes four doubles and a homer in 31 at-bats.
Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp also likes batting against Zito. Kemp is a .447 career hitter, but has never homered against the left-hander.
While Giants rookie Buster Posey has gotten most of the attention in July due to a 21-game hitting streak that was snapped Thursday, veteran Aubrey Huff also has had a sensational month for San Francisco.
Huff went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in the opening game of the series to raise his July batting average to .383. Huff has eight homers and 23 RBIs this month.
Outfielder Andres Torres had two hits Friday for his fifth multiple-hit outing in eight games. Torres is hitting .378 (14-for-37) during that stretch.