Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp, third among National League outfielders in All-Star balloting, hopes he can take his 28-year-old teammate with him to the Midsummer Classic.
”He needs to be in there,” Kemp said. ”That boy is pitching his butt off. He’s been a big part of our success.”
Stripling tossed four-hit ball over 6 1/3 innings, Kemp and Enrique Hernandez went deep to give the Dodgers a major league-leading 32 homers this month, and Los Angeles beat the rival San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Friday night for their season high-tying fourth straight win.
The Dodgers stumbled through the first two months, losing six of their first 10 matchups with the Giants.
What a difference June has made. They are 10-2 this month and trail NL West-leading Arizona by 2 1/2 games.
”We’ve been playing the way we expect to play,” Kemp said.
Stripling (6-1) extended his career-best winning streak to six games and is 4-0 at home this season. The right-hander gave up a two-run, opposite-field homer to Pablo Sandoval and had six strikeouts with no walks.
”He threw a lot of strikes. He dominated,” Sandoval said.
Stripling was a reliever in April but now is one of the Dodgers’ most consistent starters with Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Walker Buehler on the disabled list.
”I knew I wanted to be a starter and I felt I could do it,” Stripling said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ confidence in Stripling has been rewarded.
”He’s throwing the heck out of it,” Roberts said. ”Executing pitches and trying to dissect hitters, this is who he is.”
After giving up a leadoff double to Joe Panik, Stripling retired his next 12 batters. Sandoval singled leading off the sixth before Stripling retired another six consecutive hitters.
”They played 16 innings in Miami yesterday, so that helps,” said Stripling, who spent his off day watching the Giants win before flying west. ”You’re always going to go out there and attack knowing they’re tired. Maybe they don’t have that much fight.”
Kenley Jansen retired the side in the ninth for his 16th save.
The Giants trailed 3-2 in the seventh after Sandoval’s shot chased Stripling. The Dodgers’ bullpen then retired San Francisco’s final eight batters in sending the Giants to a 17th loss in their last 23 road games.
”We got back in the game on him but we couldn’t do much as far as putting pressure on him,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Kemp homered on the first pitch from Derek Holland (4-7) in the fourth. Yasmani Grandal was safe at third on an error by center fielder Austin Jackson and he scored on Yasiel Puig’s double to deep right-center for a 2-0 lead.
Hernandez homered into the left-field pavilion in the first.
The Dodgers’ 88 homers this season are tops in the National League.
Holland gave up three runs – two earned – in five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
Earlier in the day, Kemp was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for his involvement in a scuffle with Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos on Wednesday. Kemp appealed the punishment, so he’s allowed to play until the process is completed.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: 3B Evan Longoria (broken left hand) went on the disabled list a day after getting hit by a pitch at Miami. … INF Brandon Belt will be activated Saturday after having an appendectomy.
Dodgers: Placed reliever Pedro B锟絜z on 10-day DL with right biceps tendinitis, retroactive to Tuesday.
NO LUCK AGAINST LA
Holland has never fared well against the Dodgers. He’s 0-3 with a 6.38 ERA in four career starts against them. He has struck out 16 and walked 13. ”They were laying off some pretty good pitches,” he said. ”They did a pretty good job of working the count.”
UP NEXT
Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 4.76 ERA) pitches for the Giants on Saturday against Alex Wood (1-5, 4.43) in a matchup of lefties. Bumgarner seeks his first win in his third start after missing the first two months of the season with a broken left pinkie.
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Drew Brees will lead the New Orleans offense onto the field at Minnesota and commence the 13th postseason game of his stellar career Youth Markus Wheaton Jersey , already armed with seven such victories and one Super Bowl ring for the Saints.
”I prepare for every game as if it’s that magnitude,” Brees said.
”When you’re in games of that magnitude, it’s as if you’ve been there and done it many times before, even if it was just in your mind.”
For Case Keenum, it’s truly all in his mind.
His first start in the NFL playoffs will come when the Vikings kick off their divisional round game on Sunday.
”I’m going to play like I know how to play. I don’t have to be anybody but myself. Not more conservative or less conservative. Either way, I’m going to be me,” said Keenum, whose successful takeover for the injured Sam Bradford helped lead the Vikings (13-3) to their best record in 19 years. ”That’s all I have to be. I’ve got a great squad in this room.”
Solely measuring quarterback experience and accomplishment, the Saints have a clear advantage over the Vikings in this divisional round game to help determine the matchup in the NFC championship game. Keenum, though, has been overcoming the odds all season, let alone his career .
”I always root for guys like that. Kind of the undersized guy that is coming out and nobody wants to give him any credit and always plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.
Though he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round in 2001 out of Purdue, with Keenum going undrafted out of Houston and needing the Texans practice squad to get his career going in 2012, Brees can relate. He’s shorter than the NFL standard for their position, too. Oh, and they’re both from Texas.
Brees added another highlight last week, with 376 passing yards to help the Saints (12-5) advance with a 31-26 victory over Carolina while the Vikings had a bye.
”Just a guy that I really admire in how he moves the ball down the field and how he operates, what kind of leader he is,” Keenum said.
”I read his book a long time ago. I think he’s someone to learn from. I try to watch all of the really good quarterbacks in the offseason and take little things to try to work on my game.”
Here are some other angles to follow with the game:
SLOWED UP: The Pro Bowl pair of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had the least productive combined performance for the Saints against Carolina, with just 68 total yards from scrimmage. They each had more than 1,500 total yards in 2017.
The Panthers brought one safety closer to the line of the scrimmage to spy on the running back, and it worked.
”This league is a copy-cat league so I wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota did it,” Kamara said, expressing no concern about the strategy by pointing to Brees Youth Avonte Maddox Jersey , whose passing yardage total against the Panthers was his second-highest of the season.
The Vikings, led by the speed of linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, have held several pass-catching running backs to minimal production this season.
LINE ITEM: The Saints will be without starting left guard Andrus Peat, a versatile former first-round draft choice who also filled in for Terron Armstead at left tackle this season when he was injured. Peat broke his fibula against the Panthers.
Senio Kelemete, who has filled in at both guard spots and right tackle this season, is slated to start for Peat. Armstead, meanwhile, said he’s never been close to 100 percent healthy this season.
”But it doesn’t matter,” Armstead said. ”I’m willing and able to put my body on the line for an opportunity to play again next week.”
ZONED OUT: New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen called for a relatively zone-heavy scheme in the opener, and rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore recalled feeling ”confused about everything” in his NFL debut other than the man-to-man coverage the Saints have been more inclined to let Lattimore play on top opposing receivers. He had five interceptions and was picked for the Pro Bowl.
”That was something that we felt like in that game was going to give us a chance to win the game, and obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Allen said of Minnesota’s 29-19 victory fueled by a career-best 143.0 passer rating for Bradford . ”Obviously, we’ve looked at that game and how we’ve changed and how we’ve evolved as a defense.”
SUPER BOWL ENVY: New Orleans’ bid for the Super Bowl this season and was considered a favorite given the city is celebrating its 300th anniversary and has long been a popular host for the NFL’s marquee event. But Minnesota’s bid, combining its new stadium and winter carnival approach to related festivities, won out.
Now the Vikings have an opportunity to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf, a feat the Saints would be happy to deny.
”If we want to add a little underlying story to us trying to win this game, it would be nice to be able to do that,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said.
”We’ve always talked about, `We want to start the season at Minnesota. We want to end the season in Minnesota,’ and for us that means playing in the Super Bowl.”
SITE MAP: The Saints are 1-6 in their history in the playoffs on the road, including 1-4 under coach Sean Payton. Their first and only such win came after the 2013 season, when they edged the Eagles in a wild-card round game in Philadelphia before losing the following week