Dodgers @ Yankees September 14, 2016: One last interleague game

Dodgers
Yankees
1:05 PM PST
New York
2B
Utley
LF
Gardner
SS
Seager
CF
Ellsbury
3B
Turner
C
Sanchez
1B
González
2B
Castro
C
Grandal
3B
Headley
RF
Reddick
SS
Gregorius
DH
Ethier RF Refsnyder
CF
Pederson
DH
Romine
LF
Toles
1B
Austin
P
Kershaw (L)
P
Pineda (R)

After splitting the first two games in the Bronx, the Dodgers and Yankees now face off for the series victory. It’s the Dodgers’ final interleague game of the season, and their final game against a non-NL West team.

Clayton Kershaw‘s first start following his DL stint didn’t go as smoothly as the Dodgers might have hoped for, as he needed 66 pitches to get through three innings before Dave Roberts removed him (in spite of much protest from Kershaw). Kershaw allowed two runs on five hits, one of which was a home run off the bat of J.T. Realmuto. He struck out five batters, and he didn’t walk anyone.

In spite of his hiatus, Kershaw’s strikeout and walk numbers are still absurd. While he won’t get enough innings this season to qualify for any rate stat leaderboards, he’s not totally disqualified for historical greatness — after all, he’s still the first pitcher in major league history ever to reach 150 strikeouts before walking 10 batters.

Michael Pineda gets the start for the Yankees, and he’s had something of a rough season. In 28 starts, the big righty has a 5.07 ERA (3.81 FIP) and a 1.36 WHIP across 156 and a third innings pitched. Pineda has good strikeout numbers (26.6% K rate, 10.30 K/9) and better-than-league-average walk numbers (6.5% BB rate, 2.53 BB/9). Pineda is somewhat prone to giving up home runs, posting a HR/9 of 1.38 on the season. The Yankees are exactly .500 in his starts.

This season, Pineda has relied most heavily on his cutter — which averages about 95 MPH and has touched 98 MPH — followed by his slider. He also mixes in a changeup sometimes, usually against lefties. Today, Pineda faces that all-lefty-except-for-Justin-Turner lineup, with Andre Ethier making his first start as designated hitter since April of 2014.

Rotation update:

Sounds good to me. (Well, maybe not the Bud Norris part.)

Looking way ahead, the schedule for next season is now available:

[table id=5/]

About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.