Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodger bats teed off on Ranger pitching last night, as a four-homer sixth inning propelled them to a 15-2 win. James Paxton gave up a lot of loud contact, but only allowed two hits and one run over six innings. He got early run support with a first inning three-run homer by Will Smith and the Dodgers put up seven runs in the first five innings. He finished the sixth and the Dodgers immediately scored seven in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach. The only Ranger pitcher the Dodgers failed to score on was backup catcher Andrew Knizner, who needed 19 pitches to complete 1 2/3 innings and only allowed a walk. The offensive outburst was a good time, but tonight the Dodgers face a much tougher task with the Rangers’ ace (and seemingly only healthyish starter) on the bump.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| 2B | Semien | SS | Betts |
| DH | Seager (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| RF | García | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| SS | Smith (L) | C | Smith |
| 1B | Lowe (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Langford | 2B | Lux (L) |
| C | Heim (S) | CF | Pages |
| 3B | Duran | RF | Heyward (L) |
| CF | Taveras (S) | 3B | Biggio (L) |
| P | Gray (R) | P | Buehler (R) |
Walker Buehler looks to follow Paxton’s lead and bounce back after a rough start in Pittsburgh. His last start wasn’t quite as bad as Paxton’s, but Buehler allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits in only three innings last time out. The Dodgers put up four runs off Bailey Falter in the first inning and Buehler worked around a two-out single, but the wheels started to fall off in the second. It wasn’t Buehler’s fault, he got a pair of grounders but Mookie Betts airmailed one throw and Enrique Hernandez bounced a throw that Freddie Freeman couldn’t pick. That put a runner on third that was quickly cashed in for an unearned run. The third inning was a bit more Buehler’s fault. He allowed singles to Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes and both of them stole bases off Austin Barnes. One scored on a sac fly, and Buehler served up a two-run homer to Nick Gonzalez. He followed up the homer by allowing a double, walk and single but avoided more damage with a groundout to end his night. He needed 78 pitches to complete those three innings, but the Dodgers did give him 11 runs of support and were able to hold on despite a rough eighth inning out of Evan Phillips. Buehler’s allowed exactly three earned runs in five of his six starts this season, but there’s a difference between doing that over three innings than over six innings, as he did in his final start of May.
The Dodger bats look to stay hot against former divisional foe Jon Gray. Gray missed a couple weeks with a groin strain, but returned against the Giants on June 8 and allowed a hit and a walk over 2 1/3 innings in relief. Before the injury, Gray was pitching extremely well. His first start of the season was rough, as he allowed five runs and seven hits over 3 2/3 innings against the Cubs. In nine starts (and one relief appearance) after that, Gray only allowed nine earned runs over 53 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs in two of his starts in May, but allowed one or no earned runs the other eight outings. Gray’s 2.12 ERA is the eighth-lowest among all pitchers with over 50 innings pitched this season. This is his first start against the Dodgers since getting out of Colorado, but he saw them 20 times as a Rockie. The Dodgers OPS’d .810 as a team against Gray and he had a 4.37 ERA and 1.475 WHIP against them in 101 innings. He was actually better against the Dodgers at Coors. In nine career starts at Dodger Stadium, Gray has a 6.27 ERA and has allowed a .943 OPS.
Gray had always been a fastball-first pitcher before this season. He threw it a career-low 42.4 percent of the time last season and so far has thrown it 41.7 percent of the time this season. However, he’s thrown his slider 45.6 percent of the time this season and opponents are only hitting .183 off it. He’s also mixed in a change and curve (7.8 and 5 percent of the time, respectively).
Cavan Biggio makes his Dodger debut, hitting ninth and starting at third. The reported plan is for him to start at third against right-handed pitching until Max Muncy returns. Chad wrote about the Biggio acquisition earlier today. For the Rangers, Corey Seager returns from a hamstring injury for his first game back at Dodger Stadium (excluding the 2022 All-Star Game).
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As much as Chad (and others, including myself) were hoping this wouldn’t be the case, Miguel Vargas was the roster casualty for Biggio.
The Dodgers added IF/OF Cavan Biggio to the active roster and optioned OF Miguel Vargas.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 12, 2024
It’s probably better that Vargas is going to be back to playing everyday. He swung the bat well in this stint in the Majors, but only started six games. The petty part of me would like to point out that he only had four fewer hits in 20 ABs than Chris Taylor has in 90 ABs (and two more extra base hits), but Taylor survives the roster crunch for now. Who knows what the situation will be when Muncy returns, but hopefully Vargas can continue raking in the minors.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto was supposed to start on his bobblehead night tomorrow, but that’s no longer the case.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said Yoshinobu Yamamoto will now pitch on Saturday against the Royals. Tomorrow’s pitching plan is now TBD.
— Kirsten Watson (@kirsten_watson) June 12, 2024
The weekend pitching plan will go as such:
Friday: Gavin Stone
Saturday: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Sunday: Tyler Glasnow
He’ll get two extra days of rest following his best start of the season in New York. Yamamoto’s thrown 100 or more pitches in each of his last four starts, so no harm in getting him some extra rest. Tomorrow’s starter is TBD.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
