Dodgers @ Giants September 28, 2019: Ryu’s final tune-up before October

Last night’s game ended like an hour ago, but the Dodgers won their 104th game of the season last night, which matches the most they’ve won in Los Angeles. With a win today (or tomorrow), the Dodgers would match the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers with 105 wins, the most in franchise history. Still, an Astros win last night means that one Dodger loss or Houston win in these final two days gives Houston home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The more important thing is remaining healthy, and the Dodgers have two more games until they really start to matter again.

Dodgers
Giants
1:05 p.m.
San Francisco
RF
Pederson
2B
Solano
1B
Muncy
SS
Dubon
LF
Taylor
C
Posey
CF
Bellinger
3B
Longoria
SS
Seager
CF
Pillar
3B
Beaty
1B
Slater
2B
Lux
RF
Davis
C
Martin LF Rickard
P
Ryu (L)
P
Webb (R)

Hyun-Jin Ryu will make his 29th and final start of the regular season today. 23 or so of those have been exceptional, but Ryu’s struggles down the stretch and Jacob deGrom‘s overall exceptionalness means Ryu probably needs to turn in a good start today to make Cy Young voting interesting.

Ryu got back on track two starts ago, as he allowed two hits in seven shutout innings in New York. His most recent start wasn’t stellar, but he tossed seven innings (or more) for the 14th time this season and allowed three runs, but his eight strikeouts were the most he’s had in a game since June 16. Ryu also hasn’t issued a walk in his last two starts after walking a season-high four batters on September 4. Ryu has little room for error today if he wishes to lead baseball in ERA, as he holds a 0.02 lead over deGrom in that category.

Today will be Ryu’s third start against the Giants this season, but his first since the first day of May. On April 2, Ryu allowed two runs in seven innings to the Giants in LA. On May 1, Ryu allowed only one run in eight innings, but the Dodgers took the loss on a walk-off single by Buster Posey. Ryu hasn’t issued a walk in his 17 innings against the Giants this season.

Logan Webb makes his eighth start for the Giants today. Their fifth-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline, Webb made only one start at Triple A before being called up on August 17. Webb’s shown some promise, as he has allowed one run in three of his seven starts, including last time out in Atlanta. However, he’s also allowed four runs twice and on September 5, allowed seven runs in 2 2/3 innings against St. Louis.

Webb has thrown a fastball 43 percent of the time this season with not great results. Batters have a .333 average and .608 slugging against it. His slider has been his best pitch, with a .167 average and slugging percentage against it and a 41.2 percent whiff rate.

Justin Turner is still not in the lineup, and A.J. Pollock is out of the lineup after being hit by a pitch in the knee last night.

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Turner may not be in the lineup tomorrow, but should participate in a simulated game on Tuesday. Pollock can pinch-hit today, which is fortunate considering how painful his HBP looked last night.

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Quick reminder that today’s game will be on KTLA in LA. Joe Davis will not be on the call, he’ll be calling USC-UW.

About Alex Campos

I've been writing about the Dodgers since I graduated from Long Beach State, where I covered the Dirtbags in my senior year. I'm either very good or very bad at puns.