Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers now stand at 8-3 after the third Joe Kelly blown save last night. Not ideal. They’re still one game ahead of the Padres in the NL West, and significantly better than their 4-7 record through 11 games last season. It’ll be fine and Kelly can’t be terrible forever. Ross Stripling takes the mound for his third start of the season against 24 year-old Dakota Hudson.
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Dodgers
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Cardinals
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4:45 p.m.
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St Louis, MO.
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LF
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Pederson |
3B
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Carpenter | |
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3B
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Turner |
1B
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Goldschmidt | |
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RF
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Bellinger |
SS
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DeJong | |
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CF
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Pollock |
LF
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Ozuna | |
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1B
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Muncy |
C
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Molina | |
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2B
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Hernández |
RF
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Fowler | |
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SS
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Taylor | 2B | Wong | |
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C
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Barnes |
CF
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Bader | |
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P
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Stripling (R) |
P
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Hudson (R) |
Stripling has a 2.31 ERA through two starts and 11.2 innings so far this season, most recently coming off a 6.1 inning start against the Giants. He allowed three earned runs and two homers in that start, so he’ll look to improve on that outing. Even with that solid ERA, he’s currently sporting a 4.63 FIP with a .212 BABIP against him and a 97.8% left-on base percentage. His ERA won’t stay that low if his peripherals stay like that, but it’s only been 11 innings so he has plenty of time.
He’s going up against Hudson who’s making his second career start tonight. Hudson threw 27.1 innings with the Cardinals last season but all were in relief. His first start came in Milwaukee, where he allowed three runs over 4.1 innings, all coming from home runs. Last season, Hudson had a 0.90 WHIP in 16.2 innings against right-handed batters, compared to a 2.06 WHIP in 10.2 innings against left-handed batters.
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Considering Hudson’s splits you’d expect the typical lineup featuring all the left-handed batters, and that’s exactly the case except for Chris Taylor starting at short over Corey Seager. Seager had two of the team’s five total hits last night so the rest of the offense will need to pick it up. This is just a rest day for Seager and it appears that every plate appearance for Taylor is a test at this point to show he deserves the playing time over Alex Verdugo. Taylor can play short so he’ll always get the playing time when Seager is resting, but Verdugo is right on his heels. Austin Barnes is back starting at catcher today, while the outfield shifts around from yesterday in order to get Justin Turner and Joc Pederson back into the lineup. You have to think Dylan Floro, Kelly, and likely Pedro Baez are all unavailable tonight after pitching last night.
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Hyun-Jin Ryu reportedly feels better than yesterday, meaning he could be back in the rotation as soon as his IL stint is up, but they obviously won’t rush him. While not ideal, the team has the depth to withstand injuries such as this.
JT Chargois comes up to hopefully alleviate some issues with the bullpen and honestly make Kelly pitch less right now. Chargois had a 3.34 ERA over 32.1 innings last season, with a 61.8% ground-ball rate. He’s solid and should be able to contribute right away.
This should be the last step in Clayton Kershaw‘s rehab process before returning to the starting rotation which could be as soon as next week. Hopefully he’s sitting at 90+ for his fastball, but one can only hope.
First pitch is at 4:45 PT on SNLA.
