Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers overcame Manny Machado (and Joe Kelly) last night, as they got to Kirby Yates once again and recorded their seventh win in the last nine games. Today, the Dodgers look for a sweep before returning home for seven games against NL East opponents and a pair of games against these Padres.
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Dodgers |
Padres
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1:10 p.m.
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San Diego
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CF
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Hernández |
2B
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Kinsler | |
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3B
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Turner |
RF
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Reyes | |
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SS
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Seager |
SS
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Machado | |
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1B
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Freese |
1B
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Hosmer | |
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2B
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Muncy |
LF
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Dickerson | |
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LF
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Taylor |
CF
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Myers | |
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RF
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Verdugo | 3B | Garcia | |
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C
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Barnes |
C
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Mejia | |
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P
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Maeda (R) |
P
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Margevicius (L) |
Kenta Maeda starts for the Dodgers, making this his second straight Cinco de Mayo start. I know I used Cinco de Maeda for the thread last year, but it’s not my fault that (a) I keep getting threads on Cinco de Mayo and (b) the Dodgers keep letting Maeda start on Cinco de Mayo. Maeda is coming off a weird start in San Francisco. He threw five shutout innings, but allowed nine baserunners and struck out only three. He only made 73 pitches, but was pulled after allowing a leadoff double to begin the sixth. He allowed at least one baserunner in every inning and was bailed out of some jams with strong defense, but was robbed of a win when Ross Stripling had a bit of an implosion in the seventh inning.
Rookie Nick Margevicius makes his seventh start for the Padres tonight. The 22-year-old lefty owns a 3.23 ERA and 4.31 FIP in 30 2/3 innings. After beginning his career with three straight one-run outings, Margevicius has allowed eight earned runs (10 runs total) in his last three starts. Five of those earned runs came in one start against the Rockies, but Margevicius hasn’t been quite as dominant as he was early on. Nine of the 10 walks Margevicius has issued this season have come in his last three outings. He’s only completed six innings once and has allowed exactly one homer in four of his six starts.
Margevicius succeeds without having exceptional stuff. His fastball averages only 88 MPH and is in the 22nd percentile in spin rate. He throws that fastball 53 percent of the time and throws a nearly-80 MPH slider 29.1 percent of the time, also mixing in a curveball and a changeup. He gets ground balls 50.6 percent of the time. Margevicius has reverse splits so far this season, as the lefty has allowed a .766 OPS against lefties and a .625 OPS against righties. Margevicius spent most of his time in Single A and High A ball last year (he made one start at Double A in the playoffs), so it’s a bit surprising that he was the Padres number three starter to open the season. However he’s been tough to crack so far this season, and seems like exactly the type of pitcher to take a no-hitter through five innings against the Dodgers or something similarly dumb.
Cody Bellinger is still out of the lineup, which looks awfully similar to yesterday’s starting nine. The main difference is behind the plate, where Austin Barnes starts and bats eighth.
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Surprise? Apparently Travis d’Arnaud is a Dodger? The Long Beach/Lakewood native was released by the Mets last week. The former top prospect finished in seventh place in Rookie of the Year voting in 2014, but has only played more than 100 games in one season since then. d’Arnaud played in four games last season before requiring Tommy John surgery. He returned to the Mets in April, but had two hits and two walks in 25 plate appearances before the Mets designated him for assignment.
Matt Beaty was the roster casualty, as he’s been optioned to make room for d’Arnaud. A third catcher allows the versatile Barnes to move around or even allows Russell Martin to get some time in at short. d’Arnaud also has the ability to play all over the place, but he’s only played nine Major League innings at a position other than catcher.
Beaty had two hits in three plate appearances in his first taste of the Majors and recorded his first RBI last night.
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Bellinger is reportedly available to pinch hit today, as he was last night when he most definitely did not pinch hit in the eighth or ninth innings.
