Can Dodgers put early nail in Giants' NL West coffin?

Kyle Madson

Can Dodgers put early nail in Giants' NL West coffin?  image

The Dodgers on Monday got a really nice win over their National League West rival San Francisco Giants. Their 3-2 victory was driven almost entirely by Teoscar Hernandez who drove in all three Los Angeles runs, but starting pitcher River Ryan was also stellar in his debut and held San Francisco to only one run across 5.1 innings. 

Now LA, up 13.0 games on the Giants in the NL West, can secure at least a split in their four-game series with a win Tuesday night. A split would mean the Giants are a minimum of 12.0 games back by the end of the series with just a couple months to go. BetMGM likes their chances to do so:

Run line

Giants +1.5: -160
Dodgers -1.5: +135

Moneyline

Giants: +125
Dodgers: -150

Total

Over 9 runs: -110
Under 9 runs: -110

Prediction

Giants starter Jordan Hicks is struggling lately with a 16 runs allowed in 18.1 innings across his last four starts. He has eight walks and 15 strikeouts in that same stretch. Hicks has also struggled against lefties this year, which are batting .266 against him with a .387 on-base percentage. 

That bodes well for both Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman who went a combined 0-for-6 with two walks and two strikeouts in Monday night's game. Expect that duo to have a better night, which typically bodes well for an LA victory. 

Dodgers 6, Giants 3

Kyle Madson

Kyle Madson Photo

Kyle Madson neither likes writing about himself nor writing in the third person. Nevertheless, he persists. While Kyle has spent most of his writing career covering the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers, he’s never lost the love of baseball that has resided in the deepest recesses of his soul since he began playing T-ball at 4 years old (no matter how hard John Fisher has tried). Aside from writing, Kyle also hosts a radio show, the Insiders, with James Ham on ESPN 1320 in Sacramento. When he’s not being a sports dork, Kyle loves being a normal dork and traveling, visiting museums, diving further into K-Pop fandom (#SKZ) and hanging out with his wife and cats. Don’t follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @KyleAMadson.