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Giants invade Chavez Ravine

May 18, 2011 - 2:22 PM (Sports Network) - The San Francisco Giants are 6-2 with Matt Cain on the hill this season. They hope to make it five games over the .500 mark when Cain toes the rubber tonight in the opener of a two-game series against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers from Chavez Ravine.

Cain was 0-2 in four starts before getting back into the win column with Thursday's 3-2 victory over Arizona. The big right-hander held the D'Backs to a pair of runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings, improving to 3-2 in eight starts with a 3.22 earned run average.

The right-hander and No. 2 ace on the staff beat Los Angeles on April 2 in Hollywood with six scoreless innings in a 10-0 rout. Cain pushed his career record to 3-8 with a 3.55 ERA in 18 starts against the Dodgers.

San Francisco has lost two straight and three of four games since winning six in a row and eight of nine games. It was just swept in a two-game series by Colorado, which grabbed a half-game lead over the Giants in the NL West, and suffered a 5-3 loss last night at Coors Field. Jonathan Sanchez was dealt the loss for allowing four runs -- three earned -- in seven innings.

Pat Burrell had two hits and two RBI, while Miguel Tejada drove in the other run in a losing cause.

"It's frustrating right now cause we have the guys to put up the runs, but we're just not putting the runs up," said San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy. "It will come around, but we can't keep living on the edge."

Los Angeles will begin the final stretch of its seven-game homestand with the Giants in town for two games, and ended a three-game slide with Tuesday's 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of a two-game series.

Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer to set the tone in the first inning and Jerry Sands added an insurance run with an RBI double in the eighth inning for the Dodgers, who are 2-3 on the homestand.

"I tried to hit it hard," Kemp said. "I was pretty sure I got that one."

The Dodgers got 7 2/3 shutout innings from winning starter Hiroki Kuroda, while Kenley Jansen got the final out in the eighth inning and Matt Guerrier tossed the ninth for his first save.

Clayton Kershaw has won his last three starts and will put his unbeaten streak on the line tonight for LA. Kershaw kept the string going in Friday's 4-3 win over Arizona, as he tossed seven shutout innings and allowed three hits with a season-high 11 strikeouts and two walks.

Kershaw improved to 5-3 with a 2.75 ERA in nine starts this season and is 3-1 in five trips to the home mound. The left-hander has beaten San Francisco twice already this season, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA over 13 2/3 innings. In eight career games (7 starts) against the Giants, he is 3-1 with a 1.07 ERA.

Los Angeles has won four of seven matchups with the rival Giants this season, with a 3-1 record at Chavez Ravine.