Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Editor’s Note: Sorry for sleeping and the site being down all day. Oopsie.
Hyun-Jin Ryu starts today, fresh off being named National League pitcher of the Month for his stellar May. In six May starts, Ryu posted a 0.59 ERA. He had two eight-inning starts and one complete game, the only one thrown by a Dodger in 2019. Ryu allowed an opposing triple slash of .177/.191/.222 and struck out 36 batters with only three walks.
Ryu has been dominant this season and looks to carry that over into June. Ryu saw these Diamondbacks on Opening Day in LA and tossed six innings of one-run ball. It was one of four Ryu starts this season that didn’t last at least seven innings, which is sort of insane considering his usual durability issues. Ryu kept the Diamondbacks off the board for the first five innings before Adam Jones hit a solo dong in the sixth.
Taylor Clarke gets the ball for the Diamondbacks for his fifth appearance/fourth start of the season. The 26-year-old rookie has a 5.19 ERA/4.76 FIP in 17 1/3 innings so far this year. He recorded a three-inning save in his Major League debut and allowed only one hit against the Cubs. He put together a pair of solid starts, as he allowed two runs in six innings in Tampa Bay and three runs in 6 1/3 innings in San Francisco. Last time out, Clarke only lasted two innings and surrendered four runs at Coors Field. Today marks Clarke’s first home appearance for the Diamondbacks.
In a limited sample size, Clarke has mainly been a three-pitch pitcher. He’s thrown a fastball 47.5 percent of the time and it averages 93.1 MPH. He’s thrown a changeup 20.1 percent of the time, but 54 of the 57 changeups he’s thrown this year have come against lefties. He also throws a slider 17.3 percent of the time and mixes in a curveball (8.8 percent) and a sinker (6.0 percent).
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Injury updates on Justin Turner and Matt Beaty seem promising, though one has to wonder if it’s necessary to handle JT this way.
How long will #Dodgers have to handle him with extra level of care? Roberts: "I think it's going to be a couple weeks. … Just to kind of get out of the woods with that."
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 5, 2019
Why not just put him IL and shut him down entirely for 10 days or more? Roberts: "He's just too valuable off the bench. If there's a spot, a big spot, he's one of your best bats. … To have him in a big-leverage spot, we have no one who can do that."
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 5, 2019
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Chill.
