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Dodgers, Giants kick off big set in San Francisco

Sep 12, 2014 - 2:38 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Los Angeles Dodgers can either pad their lead atop the NL West or lose it all together when they visit the San Francisco Giants Friday for the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

The Dodgers are two games ahead of the wild card-leading Giants in the division standings and went 6-3 on a recent homestand. They will play their next 10 games on the road against San Francisco, Colorado and Chicago (Cubs).

Los Angeles took a three-game series from San Diego with Wednesday's 4-0 victory, as Dan Haren threw seven scoreless innings for the win.

"I feel good and my stuff is working," said Haren. "I had good rhythm with (catcher) A.J. (Ellis) and kept them off-balance. I'm minimizing my mistakes."

Carl Crawford went 4-for-4 with three doubles and two RBI. Hanley Ramirez and Juan Uribe each had an RBI for the Dodgers.

Hyun-Jin Ryu draws the start for LA and is 14-6 with a 3.16 earned run average. He is 5-1 in his last six decisions and did not factor in the outcome of a 5-2 win over Arizona, charged with two runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Ryu, a left-hander, is 10-3 in 14 road starts and 4-3 with a 3.40 ERA in eight career starts against the Giants.

San Francisco is coming off a three-game sweep of Arizona and has been playing well lately to the tune of 12 wins in the past 15 games.

The Giants broke out the brooms on the Diamondbacks with Thursday's 6-2 victory, as Jake Peavy limited Arizona to a run in 5 2/3 innings.

Hunter Pence drove in two runs, Buster Posey had three hits and Angel Pagan went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in a winning effort.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy is looking forward to this series with LA.

"It's going to be exciting baseball. We're playing a very, very good team," said Bochy. "There's going to be a lot of excitement, intensity out there."

Madison Bumgarner will try to trim the Dodgers' lead in the NL West when he takes the mound Friday for San Francisco. Bumgarner is 17-9 with a 3.02 earned run average and has won four straight starts, including Saturday's 5-4 win at Detroit in which he allowed three runs in six innings.

Bumgarner is 6-6 in 14 home starts and 10-4 with a 2.54 ERA in 15 career meetings (14 starts) with the Dodgers. The southpaw has a 2-1 mark in three starts against Los Angeles this season.

The Giants are 7-6 against the Dodgers this season, but Los Angeles has won four of the previous five matchups between the foes.