Los Angeles @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 18, 2015 ) LA Dodgers 4, Washington 2

A faulty circuit breaker turned the opener of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ three-game series in Washington into a two-day affair, but a light-outs effort on Saturday from Clayton Kershaw evened the series. Two of the most dominant pitchers in the majors will try to match the reigning National League MVP’s performance on Sunday when the Nationals’ Max Scherzer and Dodgers’ Zack Greinke square off in the rubber match.

Friday’s game was suspended at the end of the fifth inning after a bank of lights on the third-base side of Nationals Park went out three times, but pinch-hitter Matt den Dekker’s tiebreaking two-run blast in the eighth inning when the game resumed on Saturday powered Washington to a 5-3 win. Kershaw stopped the Nationals in their tracks in the regular-scheduled contest, however, allowing three singles and fanning a season-high 14 in eight scoreless frames en route to a 4-2 victory. Scherzer ranks first in the majors in WHIP (0.78), is tied for second in complete games (three) and paces the NL in innings pitched (132). His 2.11 ERA is tied for the second-best mark in the majors behind only Greinke, who hasn’t been scored upon since June 13 – a span of a career-high 35 2/3 innings.
TV: 1:35 p.m. ET; TBS, SportsNet LA (Los Angeles), MASN and WUSA 9 (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Dodgers RH Zack Greinke (8-2, 1.39 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Max Scherzer (10-7, 2.11)
Greinke made his successful bid to start the Midsummer Classic for the NL on July 9, yielding only a second-inning single to Ryan Howard while fanning eight over as many innings in a 6-0 victory over Philadelphia. The three-time All-Star became the sixth pitcher in the live-ball era to work five consecutive scoreless turns and has held his opponent to one or no runs in 14 of his 18 outings. Greinke has also fared nicely in five career starts against Washington, going 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA.
Scherzer came up one out short of his fourth complete game in last Sunday’s 3-2 win at Baltimore, giving up a pair of homers to Adam Jones among the four hits he allowed. Ranked second in the NL in strikeouts (150) and ERA behind Kershaw (174) and Greinke, respectively, the 2013 American League Cy Young Award winner hasn’t walked a batter in 39 2/3 innings. Scherzer has enjoyed mixed success in nine career appearances (seven starts) against the Dodgers, however, going 2-3 with a 3.51 ERA.

WALK-OFFS
1. Greinke needs 5 2/3 more shutout innings to move into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time consecutive scoreless innings list (Kershaw, 2014; Luis Tiant, 1968 – 41 each) and 6 2/3 more shutout frames to pass fourth-place Brandon Webb (2007).
2. Washington struck out 17 times in Saturday’s loss, tying a franchise record for a nine-inning contest.
3. After batting .194 in 11 games leading into the All-Star break, Los Angeles 1B Adrian Gonzalez is 5-for-7 with two homers and three RBIs through two games of this series.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 1, Nationals 0