Los Angeles @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 14, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 1, San Francisco 0
Chad Billingsley will look to continue his season-long dominance of San Francisco on Wednesday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers meet the Giants in the second of a three-game series.
Facing Billingsley can’t sound all that great to San Francisco after the Giants lost the opening game of the series to fall 1 1/2 games behind San Diego in the National League West.
Billingsley is 2-0 with a 0.61 earned-run average in four starts against San Francisco this season. The right-hander has given up just two earned runs and 14 hits in 29 2/3 innings against the Giants.
He pitched eight standout innings against Los Angeles just 12 days ago, allowing two unearned runs and two hits. Billingsley struck out seven and walked two in the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory.
San Francisco hitters are batting a collective .141 against Billingsley. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval and shortstop Juan Uribe are both 0-for-10 against Billingsley this season.
Billingsley is 6-2 lifetime with a 2.73 ERA against the Giants. Overall, he is 11-9 this season with a 3.65 ERA this season.
San Francisco counters Matt Cain, who has repeatedly struggled to beat the Dodgers.
When Cain tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings to beat Los Angeles on Aug. 1, it was the first time he had ever beaten the Dodgers. Cain is 1-8 with a 4.03 ERA in 16 career starts against Los Angeles.
Cain is 1-1 with a 3.66 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season. His season ledger stands at 11-10 to go with a 3.19 ERA.
Left-handed hitters Andre Ethier and James Loney have feasted against the right-handed Cain.
Ethier is 19-for-38 (.500) while Loney is batting .382 with 10 RBIs in 34 career at-bats against Cain.
Los Angeles won Tuesday’s opener 1-0 behind Clayton Kershaw’s first career shutout. The Dodgers had only one hit and scored an unearned run off hard-luck loser Barry Zito on a two-out, sixth-inning error by Uribe.
San Francisco had just four hits, with second baseman Freddy Sanchez delivering two of them despite play with a balky left knee. Sanchez had the knee surgically repaired last September.
Aaron Rowand played center field for the Giants with Andres Torres (appendectomy) sidelined. Rowand went 0-for-3 and is now batting .102 (5-for-49) since Aug. 4.
The Dodgers will be without left fielder Scott Podsednik for the rest of the season with foot pain. Podsednik will likely need surgery to address plantar fasciitis.