The Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates are playing live on the MLB schedule for a 3 game series starting Friday and the matchup from PNC Bank Park has Clayton Kershaw up against Gerrit Cole in an NL Cy Young face off and coverage is on TV from ESPN and streaming online from the WatchESPN website starting up past 7 pm ET.
The Dodgers and Pirates are both World Series contenders in the NL and this could be a playoff matchup this year the way the teams are playing. Both teams have 62 wins on the season coming into the game and the Dodgers hit the road and come to Pitt after winning against the Phillies. The team have two more games this weekend and then they will play in the middle of September for games in LA.
Clayton Kershaw has been lights out lately and Cole has been very good as well, but Kershaw comes in with a streak of 37 innings without allowing a run. Kershaw comes in with a 2-1 record and an ERA of 2.39 in his career against the Pirates. Cole comes in after letting in two runs in his last start and both players are in the mix this year for the Cy Young award.
This is the second time this season that Kershaw has had an inning streak this long without allowing a run and he is really looking strong as of late. Cole comes in with 14 wins and he leads the major and Kershaw comes in with the most strikeouts, putting in 192 this season. The two are also ranked in the top five in ERA this season in the NL. Kershaw kept his streak going with eight innings against the Angels with no runs and he has turned it around after a slow start to the season.
Yasiel Puig has had an up and down year and he actually has some good numbers against Cole with five hits in six at-bats. The Dodgers are leading the west by three games and the Pirates are right in the Wild Card in the NL and are back of the Cardinals by six games in the central. Kershaw comes in after winning the MVP award last season and now he has the chance to try and add another Cy Young to his mantle with the way he has been pitching this year. Cole is young and has established himself as one of the best in the NL and he will try and outduel Kershaw.
Check here for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates live coverage.