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A pair of Southern California kids will face off Sunday when the Los Angeles Dodgers and visiting Cleveland Guardians close out a three-game series.

Right-hander Jack Flaherty has barely been with the Dodgers for a month and already has become the most trusted member of an injury-plagued staff. Flaherty (11-6, 3.01 ERA) has made six starts for his hometown club and has gone 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA.

Fellow righty Tanner Bibee (11-6, 3.56), from nearby Orange County, originally was expected to miss the weekend series in L.A. but was moved up a game after Alex Cobb (blister) was forced to miss a start. Bibee held the Kansas City Royals to one run over six innings in a 7-1 win Tuesday.

The Dodgers evened the series at a game each when they scored six runs in the first inning Saturday on the way to a 7-2 victory. Andy Pages had a two-run home run in the opening inning for Los Angeles and Tommy Edman had a two-run double. The Guardians won the opener 3-1 on Friday.

The Dodgers (85-57) have a five-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the National League West, while the Guardians (81-61) are now 3 1/2 games in front of the Royals in the American League Central.

Flaherty will make his seventh career start against the Guardians. He is 1-2 with a 2.38 ERA against them in 34 innings. Three of those starts came earlier this season when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers and went 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA in those games.

“We get to see our old friend Flaherty one more time,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, looking ahead and also reflecting on Saturday’s loss. “But yeah, playing on the road’s tough, and nights like (Saturday), they’re going to happen. You flush it and you move on to the next day.”

After they averaged 8.0 runs per game while getting the best of a recent four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers have struggled to deliver consistent offense. Even while they erupted early Saturday, they followed with just one more run the rest of the way.

“We’ve had a couple of not-great offensive games lately, myself included, and to get that big hit early and for Andy to add on was huge,” Edman said on the SportsNet LA broadcast.

Los Angeles did get positive news on the injury front when the MRI on the left foot of Teoscar Hernandez came back clean. A move to the injury list no longer is expected and Hernandez is anticipated to return in the upcoming series against the Chicago Cubs, which starts Monday.

Los Angeles star Shohei Ohtani continues to close in on the first 50-50 season in MLB history with 45 home runs and 46 RBIs. The most home runs hit in a 40-40 season is 46 by Alfonso Soriano in 2006.

Bibee, who grew up closer to Anaheim, where the Los Angeles Angels call home, has not faced the Dodgers in two seasons. He has given up one earned run in three of his past five outings, with all of those starts on the road.

Bibee is 7-3 in 14 road starts with a 2.71 ERA, while going 4-3 with a 4.54 ERA in 13 home starts.

Despite the loss Saturday, Vogt liked the way his team finished the game with a strong 7 1/3 innings from the bullpen and a two-run home run from Lane Thomas.

“Lane had that big homer, and we kept getting things going and that’s what makes me so proud of his team,” Vogt said. “… We were right there to chip away, we just didn’t come away with a big hit.”

–Field Level Media