Dodgers @ Rays May 21, 2019: Kershaw’s first career start at Tropicana Field

The first-place Dodgers (31-17) open a five-game road trip in Tampa Bay on Tuesday with a brief two-game inter-league series against the Rays (27-17). The Boys in Blue bring the best record in the NL to Florida. They’ve won nine of their last 12 games.

	Dodgers			Rays
	4:10 p.m. PT			Tampa Bay
DH	Beaty		DH	Meadows
1B	Muncy		LF	Pham
3B	Turner		1B	Choi
RF	Bellinger		RF	Garcia
2B	Hernandez		C	D’Arnaud
SS	Seager		2B	Lowe
LF	Taylor		3B	Robertson
CF	Verdugo		CF	Heredia
C	Barnes		SS	Adames
P	Kershaw (L)		P	Wood (R)

Clayton Kershaw (3-0, 3.40 ERA, 4.10 FIP) faces the Rays for the first time since 2013. The supreme left-hander vies for his third straight win in the series opener, Kershaw’s first career start at Tropicana Field. Last time out against the Padres, Kershaw allowed three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in seven innings and 98 pitches. Although he hasn’t faced many of the current Rays’ players, he’s historically fared well in inter-league play with a 17-4 record and 2.14 ERA and 0.929 WHIP in 35 career starts vs. AL opponents.

Kershaw’s Achilles’ heel has been the home run ball. He’s allowed seven homers in 39.2 innings. His 1.6 HR/9 is a full point higher than his career average. Other than the uptick in home runs, Kershaw has looked a lot like 2018 Kershaw. When his slider is sharp, it’s compensating for his diminished fastball velocity. His 0.958 WHIP remains excellent, and his 8.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 are right on par with his numbers last season.

In the last 30 days, Dodgers’ starters have been dominant with a MLB best 2.51 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 4.5% walk rate. The starting rotation has also pitched the most innings in the NL during that span (161.2). That has helped the bullpen out, lessening the burden on the relief squad that was overextended in April.

Dodgers starting pitchers are 12-2 with a 2.05 ERA over the last 22 games (16-6 team record). Dating back to the fifth inning of Clayton Kershaw’s last start, #Dodgers starters have allowed one earned run over 28.2 innings pitched.

— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) May 21, 2019

The Rays are an interesting team, and one the Dodgers shouldn’t underestimate. Despite having payroll limitations ($60.6 million), they’ve stayed competitive in the AL East. That’s less than twice as much as Kershaw will make this season alone. The Rays sit in second place, 1 game back of the Yankees and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox despite having a payroll that’s a fraction of the two aforementioned juggernauts.

There’s a lot of new names on the roster plus a lot of new strategies employed including the utilization of an “opener” to start the game instead of a traditional starting pitcher.

The #Rays lead @mlb with the lowest starters’ ERA. The #Dodgers are third. The Dodgers will not face Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Charlie Morton or Tyler Glasnow (out with a forearm injury).

— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) May 21, 2019

Tampa Bay’s pitching has kept them in the mix, and opponents are hitting just .214 against them. They’ve allowed the fewest home runs in baseball (40). It’ll be interesting to see if they can silence the Dodgers’ bats, because as we all know they’re a dong machine with 76 homers on the year.

Whether you buy into the opener trend or not, there’s something to be said about the Rays’ innovative way of manipulating and using their roster. I mean, you have to stir the pot a bit when you have to work around such a scanty payroll and such an awful ballpark.

They play baseball in here. pic.twitter.com/2vH01kuh7X

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) May 21, 2019

If you thought it was quiet in Cincinnati at Great American Ballpark last series, just wait until you see the “crowd” in Tampa Bay.

Hunter Wood will be the opening pitcher for the Rays. He’s a right-hander with just 48.2 major-league innings under his belt. He’s opened once this season for the Rays and made four conventional relief appearances. He hasn’t allowed a run in 7.1 innings of work and has struck out seven while walking only one batter so far.

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Julio Urias will be reinstated from seven-day administrative leave after being arrested in an alleged domestic violence incident at a Los Angeles area shopping mall. MLB’s investigation remains open.

The Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed pitcher Julio Urías was reinstated from administrative leave today and outfielder Kyle Garlick was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 21, 2019

Dustin wrote about Urias and the alleged domestic violence incident last week.

Urias responded to the media for the first time:

#Dodgers Julio Urias thru interpreter: "Now that I'm back I'm going to focus on baseball. I've been through a lot of things from the (shoulder) surgery to everything else and they (teammates) have always supported me and they continue to support me."

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 21, 2019

Andrew Friedman also made a statement:

#Dodgers Andrew Friedman on Urias situation: " It's tough for us to elaborate much right now. But one thing we do know it is not standard for them to reinstate after just the seven days. So that says something to us. But we can't really elaborate further."

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 21, 2019

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Another note to consider is that the Dodgers will have to play on artificial turf at Tropicana Field. Here’s to everyone leaving Tampa Bay with all their limbs intact.