Preview: McCarthy Faces Off Against Former Teammate, Puig Sits

The Los Angeles Dodgers seemed more composed Friday and caught some breaks against the San Diego Padres after coming off a tough sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants. They now look to take the series from the Padres with a second consecutive win on Saturday.

Brandon McCarthy is tasked with following up on Zack Greinke’s dominant outing in which he had seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. After an interesting first two starts of the season, the 31-year-old right-hander pitched extremely well against the Rockies in his last outing.

McCarthy threw six scoreless innings, only allowing three hits while racking up six strikeouts. He’s fared well against the Padres in his career, going 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA in seven starts. Saturday is McCarthy’s first start away from Dodger Stadium this season.

Starting opposite McCarthy is former Arizona Diamondbacks teammate Ian Kennedy, who was activated from the disabled list (hamstring strain) Saturday to make his second start of the season. In his first outing, Kennedy only managed to toss 2.1 innings before tweaking his hamstring.

Last season, the 30-year-old right-hander went 13-13 with a 3.63 ERA. He’s 5-7 lifetime with a 4.08 ERA against the Dodgers, including a combined 0-5 record in nine starts over the last two seasons.

Kennedy won’t be able to match wits with Yasiel Puig, who’s out of the lineup after re-aggravating a left hamstring injury in the sixth inning of Friday’s game. As a result, Andre Ethier gets another in right field; joined by Carl Crawford and Joc Pederson in left and center field, respectively.

Dodgers lineup:

SS: Jimmy Rollins

RF: Andre Ethier

1B: Adrian Gonzalez

2B: Howie Kendrick

C: Yasmani Grandal

LF: Carl Crawford

3B: Juan Uribe

CF: Joc Pederson

P: Brandon McCarthy

Padres lineup:

CF: Wil Myers

2B: Yangervis Solarte

RF: Matt Kemp

LF: Justin Upton

1B: Yonder Alonso

D: Derek Norris

3B: Will Middlebrooks

SS: Alexi Amarista

P: Ian Kennedy

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