First pitch: Friday, 10:10 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -125, St. Louis +115, Total: 7

The Los Angeles Dodgers get to see the St. Louis Cardinals for the second time in just over a week when they meet in Chavez Ravine on Friday night.

It has been another very impressive start for the Cardinals in 2015 as they own the best record in the Major Leagues and have won nine of their last 11 games coming in. Over those wins they have outscored their opponents 50-16 and kicked off this series with Los Angeles in impressive fashion with a 7-1 victory. Three players on St. Louis were able to go for multiple hits in the game with the top three batters in the lineup combining to go 5-for-11 with three RBI and four runs scored. SS Jhonny Peralta (.318) has been having an amazing season and has had a multi-hit game in seven of his last 11 outings as he had six homers in the month of May. The Dodgers have kept hold of the NL West lead by 1.5-games despite losing six of their past nine contests. Four of those six defeats came when they were playing on the road where they have really struggled this year, but they brought the poor play home with them in the first game of this set as their offense sputtered to a halt in the 7-1 loss. They did have nine hits in the game, but were a poor 1-for-6 with RISP and saw just one ball go for extra-bases. With another multi-hit performance, 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.337) continues to tear it up and ranks amongst the top-five in the NL in batting average, RBI (39) and runs (37). Grabbing the start for the visiting Cardinals will be 23-year-old RHP Carlos Martinez (5-2, 3.13 ERA) as he goes against injury prone LHP Brett Anderson (2-3, 3.42 RA) of the host Dodgers. St. Louis would rather be home as they are 14-11 on the road and will be taking on this L.A. group which is a very impressive 21-8 when playing in front of their fans. These clubs have seen each other plenty of late, and with their win on Thursday, the Cardinals went to 3-1 in the matchup this year. Overall since the start of 2013, they hold a 16-12 advantage and have nearly gone .500 (6-7) when they are the visitor. Trends show that Los Angeles is a poor 20-26 (.435) when playing NL Central opponents in the last two seasons as they are 20-4 (.833) when at home against right-handed starters in 2015. Plenty of offense is missing from both sides as 1B Matt Adams (Quad) is out for St. Louis while OFs Yasiel Puig (Hamstring) and Carl Crawford (Oblique) remain on the DL for the Dodgers.

Martinez has already shown that he has what it takes to have sustained success at the highest level and in his 11 games (10 starts) this year, he has mowed down 9.6 batters per nine innings while aiding in his team winning during eight of his 10 outings. He’s only gotten better as the season moves along and has been nearly flawless over his last three starts with zero runs allowed on 10 hits over 20.1 innings as he owns a 21:7 K/BB ratio. In order to continue this dominance he will need to not revert back to his rough control (4.0 BB/9) shown during parts of this year as he has also struggles at times with the long ball (1.04 HR/9). He already has four starts against this Dodgers team in his young career, going 1-1 (2-2 team record) with a 3.60 ERA (1.55 WHIP) and is coming off an unbelievable winning effort (7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 8 K) when he saw them on May 31st. No player on Los Angeles has double-digit at-bats against the youngster, but in limited time, OF Andre Ethier (3-for-8, 1 triple) and C A.J. Ellis (2-for-6, 1 HR, 3 RBI) have looked solid as SS Jimmy Rollins, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, C Yasmani Grandal and OF Alexander Guerrero are a combined 1-for-20 with five strikeouts. The relievers for St. Louis have been elite with a 12-5 record, 2.14 ERA (1.24 WHIP) and have been successful in 22-of-26 (85%) save opportunities. Trevor Rosenthal (0.69 ERA, 17 saves) has not allowed a run since the third of May (13.1 IP) and has given up a mere 18 hits in his 26 frames.

Anderson has made a nice comeback with the Dodgers this year and has been able to go at least six innings in each of the past three outings. Each of those starts was of the quality variety as he totaled 19.1 innings of work and seven runs on 19 hits. He hadn’t pitched more than 100 innings since 2010 as he dealt with a slew of serious injuries and has already surpassed his innings from each of the last three years. Anderson is striking out a mere 6.3 batters per nine innings in 2015, but has shown some great control (2.3 BB/9) and has left 76.7% of runners on base. His first meeting with the Cardinals came less than a week ago when he was on the losing end despite a solid outing in which he threw six innings with two runs allowed on five hits with five strikeouts (3 walks). SS Jhonny Peralta is a mere 2-for-11 when facing Anderson in his career, but both of his hits left the park as he tallied five RBI. OF Peter Bourjos has also had double-digit at-bats against the lefty and is a poor 2-for-13 with three strikeouts. L.A.’s ‘pen has gone 11-10 with a 3.09 ERA (1.22 WHIP) with successes in 12-of-19 (63%) save chances. Kenley Jansen (0.00 ERA, 5 saves) has given up one hit with a 11:0 K/BB ratio over his first six innings on the mound this year.