Photo credit: @Laurel_Inn_SF

By Jeremy Kahn

Coming off of back-to-back series wins for the first two times this season, the San Francisco Giants return to play in the National League West and an old rival comes to town.

The reigning National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers make their second of three trips to the Bay Area this season for a four-game series at AT&T Park.

This will be the last time that the Dodgers come to AT&T Park until the last weekend of the season, as they will face the Giants from September 28-30.

Derek Holland will take the AT&T Park mound, as the left-hander looks for his first win as a member of the Giants, while the Dodgers will send Hyun-Jin Ryu, who looks to improve to 4-0 on the season.

The Giants are coming off a 15-2 loss to the Washington Nationals, as Jeff Samardzija made his second start of the season, but he did get out of the fourth inning.

Samardzija went 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on eight runs, walking three and striking out three in his first AT&T Park start of the season.

Ryu is coming off a seven inning performance against the Nationals on Saturday night, as he went seven innings, allowing no runs on just two hits, walking three and striking out eight.

This is the third consecutive start that Ryu won, as he did not fare in his first start of the season, as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers 8-7 at Chase Field.

Brandon Belt continues to hit the ball well, as he went 2-for-4 in Wednesday’s loss to the Nationals and is now batting .304 on the season.

Mac Williamson was a late scratch to Wednesday’s game, as he suffered a neck strain from the attempt at a foul ball in Tuesday night victory over the Nationals, where he hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.