Dodgers aim to take advantage of struggling Giants

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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants enjoy baseball's fiercest rivalry on the West Coast, and festivities are off to a quick start in 2017.

The two teams split a series at San Francisco last week, a set that featured three one-run games and extra innings in the fourth, and now the Dodgers host the Giants in a three-game series starting Monday. The clubs will meet again two weeks later for three games in San Francisco.

As fierce as the series may be, the teams appear headed in opposite directions in 2017.

The Dodgers (14-12) have won six of their past eight games despite a handful of injuries and are closing in on early National League West upstarts Colorado and Arizona.

The Giants (9-17) have the worst record in the NL. They have won back-to-back games just once all season, and key players are injured.

"Right now, there's nothing clicking," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after a recent loss. "It's a rough start. We're not very good right now. This is when you find a way to get through it, and they will."

The Giants will be without ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner until at least the All-Star break after he sustained shoulder and rib injuries in a recent dirt bike accident, and shortstop Brandon Crawford (groin) is on the 10-day disabled list. And while Buster Posey isn't injured, the former NL Most Valuable Player has just three extra-base hits and three RBIs this season.

The Giants have scored 31 runs in their past 14 games, two runs or fewer in nine of them.

"It will get better, but right now we have some guys that really aren't swinging the bats all that well, to be honest," Bochy said.

The series opener will feature a classic matchup between two power pitchers who are among the top arms in the game, the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and the Giants' Johnny Cueto.

Kershaw is 4-1 this season with a 2.29 ERA and 39 strikeouts. He is 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in his past three starts, and he is coming off a 2-1 win over the Giants on Tuesday in which he allowed six hits and a run in seven innings. He has always had great success against the Giants -- a 19-8 career record, 1.60 ERA and .184 opponents average.

He reportedly pitched with a calf injury in his start at San Francisco.

"For him to go seven innings and throw the ball the way he did with a banged-up calf, it adds to his legacy," third baseman Justin Turner told the Los Angeles Times. "It adds to his ridiculousness."

Kershaw said, "It always feels good to get a win (in San Francisco). We've been struggling here (the last few seasons), that's no secret."

Cueto is 3-1 with a 5.10 ERA this season coming off an 18-5, 2.79 effort in 2016. He got a no-decision last Wednesday against the Dodgers, throwing six innings of three-run ball.

In 14 career starts against Los Angeles, Cueto is 5-6 with a 4.86 ERA. He is 3-5 with a 2.49 ERA in eight starts at Dodger Stadium.

Turner carries a 16-game hitting streak into the series opener. He is 26-for-60 (.433) with a homer and nine RBIs in that span.