The Los Angeles Dodgers aim to post their first winning streak of the young season on Monday evening as they welcome the Seattle Mariners for the first of three straight meetings.
The Dodgers have split their first six games of the campaign and avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks with Sunday's 7-4 win the featured 16 hits by the Los Angeles offense.
Alex Guerrero had three hits and drove in four runs, falling a triple shy of the cycle. Both he and Joc Pederson hit their first career home runs, with Pederson also notching three hits.
Yasiel Puig homered, Jimmy Rollins drove in a run and Zack Greinke logged seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
"He was what we needed today," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "He kept his pitch count down and was able to go deep for us."
Mattingly will now hope that Brandon McCarthy can log some innings, something the right-hander failed to do in his Dodgers debut on Wednesday.
McCarthy earned a 7-4 win over the San Diego Padres, but allowed four runs on nine hits, two homers and a walk. He also struck out nine over five-plus innings.
The 31-year-old did continue to show his impressive control, logging a 28th straight start with two walks over fewer. That run dates back to April 22, 2014.
McCarthy is 2-6 versus the Mariners with a 3.88 earned run average in 13 games (11 starts).
Seattle eyes a third straight win after posting consecutive extra-inning triumphs over the Oakland Athletics. Nelson Cruz played the hero in Sunday's 8-7 victory, smacking a solo homer in the 10th inning.
Cruz salvaged the game after Fernando Rodney allowed four runs in the ninth inning to tie the game.
Rickie Weeks hit a three-run homer, and Kyle Seager and Brad Miller both had an RBI for the Mariners, who saw starter Felix Hernandez exit for precautionary reasons following the fifth inning due to quad tightness.
James Paxton gets the call for his opener for the Mariners after suffering a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels last Tuesday. He yielded both runs on a homer in the fourth inning, striking out five over six innings.
The 26-year-old southpaw is an impressive 9-5 with a 2.68 ERA over his first 18 career starts and will face the Dodgers for the first time. He is 1-1 in two prior interleague starts, giving up just one run over 10 innings.
The Dodgers took two of three in Seattle when the clubs last met in 2012, but the Mariners have won five of their past seven in L.A.
[SportsNetwork.com]
