By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, August 22, 2016

AP photo: Madison Bumgarner pitcher of he San Francisco Giants gets the call to face the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night at Dodgers Stadium seen here hitting a two run shot off New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom at AT&T Park in the fourth inning of August 18th’s game

LOS ANGELES–The San Francisco Giants will try to get their ship headed in the right direction Tuesday when they open a critical three-game set in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

While the Dodgers maintained their one-game lead atop the NL West, the Giants have struggled over the last 19 games with a 4-5 road trip, followed by a disastrous 3-7 home stand.

Los Angeles goes into the series on the heels of a 18-9 rout of Cincinnati, while the Giants had the day off on Monday.

The good news for the Giants is that they’ve had a 6-4 edge over LA in their 10 previous meetings. San Francisco will have its ace, Madison Bumgarner, on the hill for Tuesday’s game.

Bumgarner has started to bounce back from a rough stretch with two consecutive wins, improving his record to 12-7 with a 2.25 ERA. On the road, Bumgarner is 5-4 with a 2.85 ERA. Against the Dodgers this season, MadBum is 0-1, 4.09.

Facing Bumgarner on Tuesday is Kenta Maeda (12=7, 3.29). The Dodgers have won each of his last five starts. The good news for San Francisco is that Maeda has a 4-5 record at Dodger Stadium. He beat the Giants 3-1 back in April.

This season, the Giants are 31-18 against NL West opponents, but since the All-Star break, have gone 11-23 after a 57-33 start.