Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The red hot Dodgers, half game back of the Rockies in the NL West, are closing in on first place after five straight wins. They’ll go for their sixth consecutive victory and sole posession of first place Tuesday afternoon in St. Louis.
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Dodgers
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Cardinals
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4:05 PM
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St. Louis
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3B
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Forsythe |
CF
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Fowler | |
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LF
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Bellinger |
RF
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Pham | |
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C
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Grandal |
1B
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Carpenter | |
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1B
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Gonzalez |
C
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Molina | |
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CF
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Taylor |
SS
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Diaz | |
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2B
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Utley |
3B
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Peralta | |
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SS
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Hernandez | 2B | DeJong | |
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RF
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Puig |
LF
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Martinez | |
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P
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Maeda (R)
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P
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Wacha (R) |
The Cardinals (3.21 ERA/1.17 WHIP) and the Dodgers (3.53 ERA/ 1.21 WHIP) both have excellent starting pitching, arguably the two best starting pitching staffs in the league. Rich Hill found his groove again in the series opener, besting Mike Leake the second time around. The series continues with another pitching rematch between Kenta Maeda and Michael Wacha Tuesday afternoon.
Maeda (4-2, 5.08 ERA, 4.19 FIP) gets his second shot against Wacha, the very same matchup we saw just five days ago at Dodger Stadium. Fresh off the 10-day DL, shaky in the early going, Maeda settled down and looked healthy through five innings of work allowing three runs on seven hits in the 7-3 Dodger win last Thursday.
There were also other contributing factors in the Dodgers’ win over the Red Birds including Maeda’s big at-bat and Hyun-Jin Ryu‘s four-inning save. Maeda roped a base hit down the line to plate two runs, allowing Dave Roberts to make us all look like fools when he decided to let his starting pitcher hit for himself. Then Ryu came in out of the bullpen for the first time in his Major League career to pitch four shutout innings on 51 pitches. With Alex Wood landing on the 10-day DL with left SC joint inflammation, Ryu will start in his place Wednesday, temporarily splitting up the exceptional tag team of Maeda-Ryu.
Wacha (2-2, 3.66 ERA, 3.49), looks to rebound from his last start against the Dodgers and continue his success at home this season after lasting only four innings and allowing six runs on seven hits last week in LA. He is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA/1.01 WHIP at Busch Stadium, holding opponents to a .217 batting average. Overall against the Dodgers, Wacha is 1-3 with a 5.06 ERA in five career starts (26 2/3 innings).
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Cody Bellinger bats second in Roberts’ lineup today, and Enrique Hernandez gets the start at shortstop. Corey Seager, who has an early lead amongst NL shortstops for All-Star consideration, has the afternoon off.
Outfielder @Bharper3407 of the @Nationals leads the NL in fan balloting for the 2017 @AllStarGame. Vote now at https://t.co/qd5OOxn7ED pic.twitter.com/SdPsLKdClg
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 30, 2017
For scoreboard watchers, the Rockies host the Mariners at 4:10 pm PST. The Dodgers have won 10 of their last 12 games but haven’t led the NL West since the first week of the season.
