Los Angeles @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 26, 2015 ) LA Dodgers 7, Miami 1

Giancarlo Stanton and Dee Gordon are doing their best to jumpstart the Miami Marlins offense but aren’t getting much help. The Marlins will try to snap a five-game slide and even the series at one win apiece when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

Miami has scored one run in each of its last three games after a 7-1 setback in Friday’s opener, and three or fewer in each of the last five. Gordon did his part with half of the Marlins’ six hits on Friday but Stanton went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and went for X-rays on his left hand after the game. The Dodgers are winners of three straight and have allowed a total of three runs in those contests. Trying to keep that streak alive while going up against Miami’s struggling offense on Saturday is ace Clayton Kershaw, who will be opposed by Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler.

TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, SportsNet Los Angeles, FSN Florida (Miami)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Dodgers LH Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 3.33 ERA) vs. Marlins RH Tom Koehler (5-4, 3.76)

Kershaw is winless in his last three starts and fell at the Chicago Cubs on Monday while allowing three runs on four hits and a pair of walks in seven innings. The reigning Cy Young Award winner surrendered a pair of home runs in that outing and yielded four in this last three turns. Kershaw is 5-1 with a 1.99 ERA in seven career starts against the Marlins.

Koehler missed his last turn due to a stiff neck and is trying to find some consistency. The New York native is 2-1 in his last three starts and sandwiched a pair of seven-inning, one-run outings around a start at Toronto on June 10 in which he was lit up for six runs (five earned) in 6 2/3 frames. Koehler is 1-2 despite a 2.91 ERA in four career starts against Los Angeles.

WALK-OFFS

1. Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig (hand) missed his third straight start on Friday and is day-to-day.

2. Miami RHP Jose Fernandez (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to make his final rehab start on Saturday for Double-A Jacksonville.

3. Los Angeles RHP Pedro Baez (pectoral) was activated from the 15-day DL on Friday and struck out the side in one inning of work.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 5, Marlins 1