Dodgers @ Diamondbacks September 10, 2020: Dodgers look for a sweep against a familiar foe

The Dodgers needed two extra inning victories, but find themselves in position for a sweep in the final game against the Diamondbacks. It’s also the final time the Dodgers and Diamondbacks will square off in 2020, barring some miracle turnaround by an Arizona team that’s tied for the worst winning percentage in baseball.

	6:40 p.m.		Phoenix
2B	Betts	DH	Rojas (L)
SS	Seager (L)	2B	Vanmeter (L)
LF	Pollock	1B	Walker
3B	Muncy (L)	RF	Calhoun (L)
CF	Taylor	3B	Escobar (S)
1B	Bellinger (L)	LF	Peralta (L)
RF	Hernández	SS	Ahmed
DH	Smith	CF	Varsho (L)
C	Barnes	C	Kelly
P	May (R)	P	Bumgarner (L)

Dustin May starts for the Dodgers for the ninth time this season. May has been extremely consistent this season, allowing one or two runs in each of his eight starts. May’s last start came in LA against the Rockies, and he allowed three hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings. It was the first time this season that May surrendered more than one homer in a game, as both Raimel Tapia and Sam Hilliard took him deep.

May has been pretty good this season, but it’s strange to me how few batters he strikes out. May has high velocity and some insane movement, but is only running a 17.1 percent strikeout rate. He’s struck out 28 batters and issued 10 walks in 40 2/3 innings.

Today will be May’s first career start against Arizona. He pitched against them in relief last season and it went pretty horribly, as he allowed four hits and three earned runs while recording only one out.

Madison Bumgarner gets his first start against the Dodgers as a member of the Diamondbacks. Arizona signed Madbum to a five-year deal in the offseason, and year one has not been pretty.

The Diamondbacks have lost each of the five games Bumgarner has started this season. The first two were decent enough, as he allowed five runs in 11 innings combined against the Padres and Rangers. The wheels completely fell off in his next two starts, as MadBum allowed seven runs in 4 1/3 innings against Houston and six runs in only two innings against San Diego. Bumgarner hit the IL after that Padre start with a back injury and returned last Saturday, where he allowed two runs in four innings in his return to San Francisco. In total this season, Bumgarner has thrown 21 1/3 innings and allowed 20 runs and nine dongs while striking out only 15 batters. At least they only have him for four more years.

Bumgarner has never been a high-velocity pitcher. He averaged a career-high 92.9 MPH on his fastball in 2015, but uhh.

Thats.. not what you want. MLB.com’s Sarah Langs wrote at length about Bumgarner’s velocity drop in August. It might be worth noting that Bumgarner averaged a season-high 88.7 MPH on his fastball in his last start in San Francisco.

The Dodgers lineup is drunk today. Mookie Betts starts at second and Will Smith starts as the DH with Austin Barnes behind the plate.

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More on Mookie.

Mookie Betts starts at second base tonight. He was once an infielder, of course. Dave Roberts said Betts volunteered to do it to prepare for a playoff scenario in which he might be needed there.

— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) September 10, 2020

Betts has played 128 innings at second base in his career, with 122 of those innings coming in 2014. In 2018, Betts started a game in right and moved to second in the second inning, and then back to right in the eighth. Mookie may get another look at second later this year as well.

Their entire thing is neurotically engineering their depth so they have the flexibility to get their best players into the lineup every game when it matters and then losing in the end cause their superstars shit themselves.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 10, 2020

Listen Chad I just want to talk.

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The Dodgers have an off day tomorrow before welcoming the Astros to LA for what will assuredly be an uneventful series. Some injury notes heading into that series.

Dave Roberts said Justin Turner won't be returning this weekend. Shooting for early next week.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 10, 2020

Brusdar Graterol (knee) will not pitch until Saturday, Dave Roberts said.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 10, 2020

Dodgers put Walker Buehler on the IL and recalled Joe Kelly to start his suspension tonight

— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) September 10, 2020

Justin Turner will not return from his hamstring injury this weekend. Brusdar Graterol won’t be available tonight after a knee issue following last night’s outing. Julio Urias will start the first game against Houston, and the starter for Sunday is unknown.

Sunday would be Walker Buehler‘s start, but he’s been placed on the IL with a blister. Joe Kelly is back on the roster and will be eligible to return from his suspension on Wednesday. Buehler’s IL stint is retroactive to September 9 so he is eligible to return next Saturday, but the Rich Hill experience should have taught you how tricky blisters can be.

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T-Shirt SZN.

Gavin Lux is ready for takeoff. (buying from this link helps support @DodgersDigest): https://t.co/nZGNtXUu62 pic.twitter.com/Bne5LYiqHc

— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) September 10, 2020

A truly Luxurious shirt. Support us. Allan hasn’t had a meal since February.

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First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PDT and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.