Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Shohei Ohtani was the hero yesterday, as his 10th inning single scored the Manfred runner to walk off the Reds and take a four-game series victory. The win moved them to 32-17 and kept them comfortably up on the Padres, who took three of four from Atlanta after splitting a doubleheader today.
Today, the Dodgers begin their first home series against Arizona this season. The Dodgers took two of three in Arizona a couple weeks ago with the loss coming in the infamous Bee game. Since then, Arizona has played five series and lost three of them, with the only series wins coming against the Reds. They dropped two of three against the Tigers over the weekend, and perhaps even worse they allowed Javier Baez to look like a major league hitter against them. Baez entered the series with a .167/.200/.222 slash line but went 8-for-13 with four doubles in the three games.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Carroll (L) | SS | Betts |
| 2B | Marte (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | Pederson (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Walker | C | Smith |
| LF | Gurriel Jr. | LF | T. Hernández |
| RF | McCarthy (L) | CF | Pages |
| 3B | Suárez | RF | Heyward (L) |
| C | Moreno | 3B | K. Hernández |
| SS | Newman | SS | Rojas |
| P | Mantiply (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the start tonight on two extra days of rest, as the Dodgers opted for a Landon Knack call up rather than use Yamamoto yesterday on five days. Yamamoto last pitched May 13 in San Francisco and struggled a bit. He allowed more than three runs for the first time since his Korea start, as the Giants tagged him for four in 5 2/3 innings. Three of those runs game on a second-inning homer by Luis Matos (who won NL Player of the week), and he allowed a fourth run in the sixth before being pulled. Yamamoto kicked off May with a strong start in Arizona, where he threw six shutout and allowed five hits and two walks while striking out five.
He definitely has been trying to get RHH off his fastball, but so far these new pitches have come mostly in place of splitters, which is… odd. Still a pretty radical retooling of the mix to go from three pitches to six in the space of three starts. pic.twitter.com/Q5o9Vn3LSB
— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) May 20, 2024
Thanks, Brim.
Arizona is opting to start lefty Joe Mantiply as an opener. The expectations is that Slade Cecconi, who is definitely a real pitcher and not a character from The Sopranos, will pitch a semi-bulk role today. Mantiply allowed a run and two hits in 1 2/3 innings against the Dodgers on April 30, with the run coming on a balk with Will Smith on third. Assuming Cecconi pitches, it would be his sixth appearance this season with the previous five being starts. The first time through the order, Cecconi has allowed one hit and two walks in 45 plate appearances this season. The second time through the order, batters are 15-39 with a 1.239 OPS off him. 12 of the 16 runs he’s allowed this season came in two home starts against the Padres and Reds, but he’s only allowed four runs away from Chase Field.
Gavin Lux sits today with Miguel Rojas getting the start at short. Pretty normal lineup besides that.
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The Dodgers acquired Yohan Ramirez after the Mets designated him for assignment.
The Dodgers acquired RHP Yohan Ramírez from the New York Mets for cash considerations.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 20, 2024
Ramirez has a 6.91 ERA in 14 1/3 innings for the Mets and Orioles this season. His xERA is only 3.77 and his FIP is 3.57, so obviously a small sample size but he may be due for some positive regression. Six of his 10 outings this season have been scoreless, but he’s allowed two runs in three outings and five runs in one against the Reds. He was activated minutes after I scheduled this post. Knack was optioned and Eduardo Salazar was designated for assignment.
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Injury updates on Dustin May, Joe Kelly, Evan Phillips and Bobby Miller.
A couple of pitching updates:
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) May 20, 2024
– Dustin May threw off a mound this weekend.
– Joe Kelly played catch for the first time since going on the IL.
– Evan Phillips will do a rehab assignment before being activated.
– Bobby Miller will pitch a sim game tomorrow.
Kinda crazy how good the Dodger pitching has been with all those names on the IL. May threw off a mound in Arizona and Joe Kelly played catch for the first time since hitting the IL on May 6. Phillips could be back in 7-10 days and will need a couple rehab appearances before coming back. Miller threw a bullpen this weekend and will pitch his first sim game tomorrow (it’s expected to be three innings).
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
