St. Louis @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 26, 2014 ) St. Louis 0, LA Dodgers 1

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals own two of the best pitching staffs in the league and are already putting them on display early in the series. The offenses will attempt to combine for more than one run when the Dodgers host the Cardinals in the second of a four-game series on Friday. Josh Beckett and Adam Wainwright matched zeros through seven innings in the opener before Wainwright blinked in a 1-0 Los Angeles victory.

The Dodgers are allowing an average of 2.1 runs in the last 10 games and own eight wins in that span as it chases down the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. The Cardinals are losers of five of their last nine and have the offense to blame. St. Louis has scored a total of nine runs in those five losses and wasted two chances to score in Thursday’s opener when Allen Craig was thrown out at the plate and Peter Bourjos slid past second base and was tagged out after an easy steal in the ninth.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), SportsNet Los Angeles

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Carlos Martinez (1-3, 4.33 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-3, 3.06)

Martinez is getting his third straight start as he stretches out after beginning the season in the bullpen. The 22-year-old picked up a win on Sunday against Philadelphia, when he allowed three runs - all in one inning – on three hits over five frames. Martinez made four appearances out of the bullpen in the playoffs against Los Angeles last fall and yielded one hit in a total of 4 2/3 scoreless frames.

Ryu has won back-to-back starts, allowing one run over six innings in each turn. The South Korea native owns six quality starts in his last seven outings and has issued only 18 walks in 82 1/3 innings. Ryu is making his second career regular-season start against St. Louis after allowing an unearned run over seven innings to earn a win his first time facing the Cardinals.

WALK-OFFS

1. Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez (shoulder) has missed three straight games and remains day-to-day.

2. St. Louis RHP Joe Kelly (hamstring) is expected to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Memphis on Friday.

3. Los Angeles has won six of its last seven at home to improve to 19-20 in its own building.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 4, Cardinals 2