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Giants-Dodgers Preview

Apr 16, 2016 - 6:54 AM Johnny Cueto is undefeated through his first two starts with the San Francisco Giants. However, he'll look for a cleaner outing this time against the Los Angeles Dodgers than he experienced last weekend.

Scott Kazmir certainly hopes for a better performance than he put forth against Cueto and Giants.

The two veterans match up for the second time in seven days Saturday night when the Dodgers try for a sixth consecutive home win over the Giants.

Cueto (2-0, 4.50 ERA) allowed five first-inning runs Sunday against Los Angeles (7-4) in his first home start, but just one over the next six before leaving a wild 9-6 victory.

"It's part of the game," Cueto told MLB's official website. "My teammates said, 'Just keep the game at 5-0 and we'll take care of the rest.' And that's exactly what I did."

The right-hander yielded 10 hits, two walks and overcame a sore knee and back suffered while backing up home plate.

"For him to go seven innings tells you a couple of things," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It tells you how tough he is. And he's a pro."

Kazmir (1-0, 5.40) wasn't as fortunate.

Staked to that 5-0 lead, the left-hander gave it all back by allowing six runs and seven hits - three of them homers - in four innings.

''I just didn't get it done,'' Kazmir said. ''There were pitches where if I would have made it, it would have been a different situation. But it was those pitches that were right in their wheelhouse, something that they could really handle, and they made me pay.''

It was a far cry from his one-hit, six-inning Dodger debut in a 3-0 victory at San Diego five days earlier.

''When you've got Kaz on the mound you feel pretty good about things,'' Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. ''But that's why you've got to play a complete game. Those guys, they don't quit. They play every pitch and play every inning. They're a tough group.''

Kazmir and Cueto each hope to be more effective as they again follow another Clayton Kershaw-Madison Bumgarner matchup. Kershaw allowed two earned runs over seven innings while Bumgarner yielded seven - four earned - in five-plus of Los Angeles' 7-3 victory.

The versatile Kike Hernandez homered twice off Bumgarner and drove in four runs as the Dodgers handed San Francisco a third consecutive defeat.

"If (Bumgarner) makes a mistake you've got to make sure you make him pay because he doesn't do it a lot in a game," said Hernandez, who is 7 for 13 in his last three games and has six RBIs in the last two.

Angel Pagan had two of the five hits for San Francisco (6-5), which has totaled 11 runs while batting .204 and striking out 44 times during its five-game slide at Chavez Ravine.

Batting .385 through 11 games, Pagan homered against Kazmir last week. Buster Posey and Brandon Belt also took him deep in that contest.

The Giants announced they placed reliever Sergio Romo (arm) and backup infielder Ehire Adrianza (broken foot) on the 15-day disabled list. Adrianza is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley has sat two straight games but should return to the lineup Saturday. The 37-year-old is 11 for 27 against Cueto.