Last-place Giants host reeling Dodgers
SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants get a chance to add to the Los Angeles Dodgers' misery when the rivals meet in a three-game series beginning Monday night at AT&T Park.
The Dodgers flew into San Francisco on Sunday night having gone 0-7 on a homestand and now shackled with a 10-game losing streak, their longest in 25 years.
Not that the Giants are doing much better. They got bombed in two straight over the weekend on the road by the Chicago White Sox, with staff ace Madison Bumgarner on the losing end of an 8-1 drubbing Sunday.
The weekend losses were the 11th and 12th in the last 16 games for the Giants, who trail the Dodgers by 37 games in the NL West.
With 15 losses in their past 16 games, the Dodgers have seen the gap shrink for their closest challengers in the National League West (the Arizona Diamondbacks) and in the race for the best record in the NL (the Washington Nationals).
Los Angeles (92-51) will begin a 10-game trip nine games up on the Diamondbacks (83-60) and four ahead of the Nationals (88-55).
The Dodgers and Nationals meet later in the week in Washington.
The Dodgers even tried breaking out a good-luck charm -- former manager Tommy Lasorda -- before the Sunday game. It didn't work, with the club's home losing streak reaching nine games for the first time in 30 years.
"With what we're going through," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Lasorda's appearance, "he just wanted to put his hand on my shoulder and say, 'I've been there. It's going to be OK.'"
Actually, Lasorda has never been there. No manager has.
The Dodgers are the first team in major league history to lose 15 of 16 after having already amassed 90 wins.
Despite their huge lead over the Giants (56-89) in the division, the Dodgers hold just a 7-6 edge in the season series.
Right-hander Kenta Maeda (12-6, 4.02 ERA) will be hoping for more offensive support than his teammates provided Rich Hill on Sunday in an 8-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
That hasn't happened in Maeda's last two starts, both against the Diamondbacks, during which the Dodgers totaled just two runs. Maeda got a loss and a no-decision in the team's two defeats.
The 29-year-old has faced the Giants four times in his career, all last season, going 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA in those outings.
The Giants will send rookie right-hander Chris Stratton (2-3, 4.10 ERA) to the mound. He has faced the Dodgers just once in his career, earning a win last season despite allowing one run in one inning of relief.
The 27-year-old has pitched well at home this season, with the Giants winning each of his past three home starts.
"Hopefully getting home will add adrenaline, or something will spark us a little bit," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the team's Sunday loss in Chicago. "There's no getting around it: We look so flat because we're not hitting at all."
The Giants have struggled so badly on offense of late, Bochy admitted he considered scrapping the designated hitter at the American League park Sunday and letting Bumgarner hit.
As it turned out, designated hitter Jarrett Parker produced the team's only run with a solo homer.
