Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers showed great progress yesterday as they didn’t lose a game for the first time in five days. They survived the off day, and now begin a three-game series against the team with the second-worst record in the National League. Normally this would be a relief, but the Dodgers just got humiliated at home by the team with the worst record in the National League. So all you people that said Sunday’s loss was the low point of the season. Hold off on that thought until Thursday.
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Dodgers
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Marlins
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4:10 PM
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Miami
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SS
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Taylor |
3B
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Prado | |
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CF
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Hernandez |
C
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Realmuto | |
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3B
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Turner |
2B
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Castro | |
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LF
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Kemp |
RF
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Anderson | |
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C
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Barnes |
1B
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Bour | |
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1B
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Bellinger |
LF
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Maybin | |
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2B
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Forsythe | SS | Rojas | |
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RF
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Puig |
CF
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Brinson | |
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P
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Wood (L)
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P
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Chen (L)
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Alex Wood is the only member of the Opening Day rotation that has yet to miss a start (or be skipped in the rotation). He’ll make his ninth start of the season tonight and is coming off a pair of starts against Arizona, one on the road and one at home. Both starts were similar, as he went five innings and allowed one run each time. The Dodgers also won both of his starts. His last appearance was May 9, which was the last time the Dodgers won a game. He scattered five hits and only allowed a first-inning inside-the-park home run to Nick Ahmed. Wood’s main issue of late has been his pitch count, as he needed over 90 pitches to get through five innings in both of these starts. It makes sense, as Wood issued five walks in those 10 innings after walking only three batters in his first 35 innings of the season.
Today, the Dodgers reinstated Justin Turner (left wrist fracture) and Logan Forsythe (right shoulder inflammation) from the 10-day DL and optioned Kyle Farmer and Tim Locastro to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 15, 2018
The big news is obviously the return of a pair of infielders. Justin Turner is active for the first time this season and hits in his customary third spot in the order. Logan Forsythe returns from a shoulder injury and starts at second, hitting seventh.
On the other side, Wei-Yin Chen starts for the Marlins. Chen had a successful first start of the season on April 28th after missing the first few weeks due to a lingering elbow issue from last year. In his first start, Chen allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings against the Rockies. He’s gotten lit up in his last two starts, allowing four runs in four innings against the best team in baseball (Cincinnati), and most recently allowing nine runs in three innings against the Cubs.
The Cubs hit for a cycle in a four-batter stretch against Chen. Two of the three outs Chen recorded in the inning were against the opposing pitcher. Dodgers should employ these strategies, IMO.
Chen has walked more batters than he’s struck out this year, so this really feels like the type of pitcher the Dodgers should tee off on. However, they just got dominated by four Reds pitchers, so it’ll be an accomplishment if they record a hit through the first five innings.
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The returns of Turner and Forsythe will undoubtably help. The Dodgers came into the game with a 74 wRC+ out of their third basemen, which is the lowest in baseball. The Orioles have the second-lowest, which was a nice reminder that future-Dodger Manny Machado no longer plays third for them.
Their returns mean Kyle Farmer and Tim Locastro have been sent back to Triple-A OKC. For the first time this season, the Dodgers only have two catchers on the roster with Farmer’s demotion. This could lead to fun in a future 15-inning game that leads to Yasiel Puig behind the plate and Kenta Maeda in right field.
Farmer’s demotion saved the roster spot of Max Muncy, who Allan conveniently wrote about this morning. He stated in his post that he hoped the roster casualties would be Farmer and Locastro instead of Muncy, so you can @AllanYamashige on Twitter if you need some lottery numbers.
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Clayton Kershaw played catch again today. Dave Roberts said Kershaw has been progressing well, but he does not expect Kershaw to pitch off a mound on this trip.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) May 15, 2018
Clayton Kershaw‘s road to recovery is still in progress, with another step being completed. The roadtrip ends Sunday in Washington D.C., so don’t expect him to throw off a mound before then.
