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Red-hot Dodgers host Giants on Wed.
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 8/24/2016  at  10:52:00 AM
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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (68-57)

at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (70-55)

First pitch: Wednesday, 10:10 p.m. ET
Line: San Francisco +120, Los Angeles -130, Total: 7.0

The Giants will be hoping to avoid a fourth consecutive loss when they face a Dodgers team that has won three straight heading into Wednesday.

San Francisco is really struggling right now and the team needs to find a way to turn things around quickly. The Giants have lost seven of their past nine games and these games against the Dodgers are huge for the division race. San Francisco isn’t just in danger of slipping out of that race, but the team could feasibly lose out on a Wild Card spot as well. The Giants are just five games ahead of the teams gunning for their spot, but they have nothing going for them right now and need to find some sort of consistency moving forward. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have been raking these past two games, as they got 21 hits and scored 18 runs on Aug. 22 and followed that up with a 14-hit, nine-run game on Tuesday night. The battle on the mound should be a good one on Wednesday, as RHP Johnny Cueto (14-3, 2.90 ERA, 152 K) is going to be on the mound for San Francisco and LHP Rich Hill (9-3, 2.25 ERA, 90 K) will be making his debut for Los Angeles. Hill was on a tear with Oakland before being traded to the Dodgers, but he has not pitched because he was recovering from a blister on his thumb. One thing that stands out when looking at this game is that the Giants are just 2-16 against the money line in road games when playing a team with a win percentage of 54% to 62% in the second half of the year this season.

Johnny Cueto will be on the mound for the Giants on Wednesday and that is very good news for the team. San Francisco has won in six of his past 10 starts and the righty also happens to have pitched well against Los Angeles in their most recent meeting. That was on Jun. 10 and Cueto pitched eight innings of two-run baseball. He struck out eight batters in that game and walked none. Another performance like that one would surely be welcomed by his teammates. Offensively, the Giants need a bunch of their stars to really step it up. San Francisco is just not getting timely hits recently and guys like C Buster Posey (.291, 12 HR, 60 RBI) and SS Brandon Crawford (.273, 11 HR, 74 RBI) need to change that. While Posey isn’t necessarily a power hitter, he has not homered since Jul. 16. He is supposed to be San Francisco’s most dangerous guy at the plate and it’d be big if he can find a way to spark his team when it needs him most. Crawford, meanwhile, is 0-for-6 over the past two games and this team does not hit well enough for him to just not produce. He’ll need to find a way to get on base on Wednesday.

The Dodgers have been waiting over a month for Rich Hill to make his debut with the team and the time has finally come. The lefty was off to a brilliant start with the Athletics this season, but he might be rusty coming into this one. Fortunately for Hill, he is facing a Giants team that is really struggling and also happens to have a red-hot lineup trying to provide runs for him. SS Corey Seager (.324, 22 HR, 61 RBI) is the guy that has been terrorizing opponents lately. Seager is on a 14-game hitting streak coming into this contest and was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored on Tuesday night. He had four hits, a homer and three RBI the night before as well. The young shortstop should be able to continue his hot hitting on Wednesday. 3B Justin Turner (.279, 23 HR, 73 RBI) is another guy that should be able to provide something at the plate in this one. Turner was 3-for-4 with an RBI on Tuesday night and has now gotten two or more hits in four of the past 10 games. And finally, 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.301, 15 HR, 73 RBI) is impossible to leave out. Gonzalez has seen his average rise from .296 to .301 over the past 10 games and has five homers and 18 RBI in that span. He is the hottest hitter in baseball and will be hoping to stay that way on Wednesday.


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