Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (79-34) failed to complete a sweep of the Kansas City Royals (48-68) yesterday, dropping the final game of the three game series by a score of 4-0. That was just their fifth time this season getting shutout, snapping a 12-game winning streak. That drops their division lead to just 16.0 games over the San Diego Padres (65-52), and their lead for the best record in baseball to just five games over the New York Mets (75-40). Additionally, it also drops them to just a 113-win pace.
The Dodgers will have a challenge to bounce back from that loss as they’ll be playing the Milwaukee Brewers for four games (61-52) to finish off their road trip. The Brewers are second in the NL Central, 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (63-51), but due to the Braves, Padres, and Phillies having great seasons, they’re on the outside looking in, 1.5 games out of the third and final Wild Card spot right now. All these games are crucial for the Brewers so they’ll bring their A game. Milwaukee will have right-handed Freddy Peralta on the mound up against Julio Urias.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:10 PM | Milwaukee | ||
| RF | Betts | LF | Yelich (L) |
| SS | T. Turner | SS | Adames |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | DH | McCutchen |
| C | Smith | 3B | Brosseau |
| DH | Muncy (L) | RF | Renfroe |
| 3B | Turner | 1B | Tellez (L) |
| 2B | Lux (L) | 2B | Urías |
| LF | Taylor | C | Caratini (S) |
| CF | Bellinger (L) | CF | Taylor |
| P | Urías (L) | P | Peralta (R) |
Here’s how the two offenses compare.
The Brewers don’t have an amazing offense, but it’s good enough considering their pitching, and it’s better than it’s been in recent years. Against left-handed pitching they particularly struggle, with a wRC+ of 87 (25th), OPS of .662 (25th), batting average of .220 (29th), and a strikeout rate of 25.0%, the third highest in baseball.
Meanwhile, against right-handed pitching the Dodgers easily own the best offense in baseball, ranking first by huge margins in both wRC+ (124), and OPS (.799). Peralta isn’t your run of the mill right-handed pitcher, so the team will still need to muster strong performances to put runs on the board.
——
Here’s how the two pitchers matchup, and how Urías ranks among 59 qualified starters.
Peralta earned the victory Tuesday over Tampa Bay, striking out four in five innings while allowing two runs on two hits. He allowed a single and a two-run homer in the third inning to account for the only baserunners against him. He retired every other batter he faced and completed the five frames while throwing just 65 pitches. It was his second start since coming off the injured list after losing two-plus months to a lat injury. His pitch count will likely rise in this start, so the bats will need to put good plate appearances together as he’ll be able to get deep into a start if he’s efficient. The Dodgers have yet to face Peralta this year and faced him just once last year, where he allowed just one run on one hit (a solo shot to AJ Pollock), while striking out seven over six innings. Peralta has a four-pitch mix that features a low to mid 90’s fastball he throws over half the time, a slider in the low 80’s as his primary off-speed pitch, and then a mid 80’s changeup and mid 70’s curveball making up the rest of his repertoire.
Urías (12-6) earned the win during Tuesday’s 10-3 victory over Minnesota, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings. Urías had his best stuff working Tuesday as he tossed 72 of 90 pitches for strikes, with 16 coming of the swinging variety, and rolled to a stress-free win. His 76 game score matches his best of the season, and has been lights out over his last five starts. During that stretch he’s gone 5-0 over 33 innings, with a 1.09 ERA, 1.82 FIP, a 0.76 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts to just two walks in those 33 innings. His 68.8% strike percentage, 2.49 ERA and 0.97 WHIP all rank top 10 in MLB. He’s been shoving and he’ll look to keep the momentum going tonight.
——
Bad news for the Dodgers and for Walker Buehler. No further details have been announced in regards to if this is the type of surgery that puts him out for just the 2022 season, or if the 2023 season is in jeopardy as well. I’m not sure the team would’ve handled the trade deadline any differently, but now there will be more pressure on Dustin May, and Clayton Kershaw to be healthy and effective, while Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson look to continue the best seasons of their careers.
——
Austin Barnes is back from the family emergency list.
——
Supposedly Corey Seager was swayed to joining the Rangers partly due to Chris Woodward (and $325 Million), but any idea that Kershaw would also be swayed by Woodward is now gone.
——
Hopefully May is ready to go. Miami is a great team to make your return against as their offense has been performing poorly for quite some time now. He’s made five starts in Triple-A on rehab assignments, and has posted a 1.89 ERA in 19.0 innings with 33 strikeouts and six walks.
——
First pitch is at 5:10 PM PDT on SNLA.
