Padres @ Dodgers April 25, 2021: Musgrove vs. May; LA tries to salvage split

This series has been just as competitive as the previous one a week ago between these, and the Dodgers are trying to salvage a split in this 4-gamer. Dustin May gets the nod against Joe Musgrove.

	4:08 p.m.		Los Angeles
SS	Tatis Jr.	CF	Betts
CF	Grisham	SS	Seager (L)
3B	Machado	3B	Turner
1B	Hosmer	1B	Muncy
2B	Cronenworth	2B	Taylor
LF	Pham	LF	Beaty
RF	Profar	RF	Raley
C	Caratini	C	Barnes
P	Musgrove (R)	P	May (R)

May has been quite good for LA this season. His strikeouts are up, his ground balls are slightly up from last season and, well, those are the two main ways he records outs these days.

From @EliasSports, about Dustin May: Has thrived this year with strikeouts and groundouts. Only 15% of his outs have come through the air, tying the lowest rate in the majors among pitchers who have thrown at least 15 innings.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) April 25, 2021

Miss bats and keep the ball on the ground and you’re gonna have success. There’s a really good article on FanGraphs about May discovering his strikeouts, which has been one of the most pleasant surprises early in the 2021 season.

Chris Taylor returns to the starting lineup after a few days (he appeared in last night’s game). He’s starting at second base with Gavin Lux and Zach McKinstry on the mend. Austin Barnes gets the call behind the dish, giving Will Smith the night off. For the Padres, Wil Myers is getting a breather after stealing three bases last night.

——

Also, Dennis Santana is feeling better. Will likely be activated either tonight or Monday.

Pregame notes: ⬇️https://t.co/ifmNJtGBkP

— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) April 25, 2021

Would be nice if May can pitch somewhat deep into the game, especially if Scott Alexander and Kenley Jansen are truly unavailable. Would also expect Garrett Cleavinger to make his Dodgers debut sometime tonight.

——

Dave Roberts said he didn't see that Fernando Tatis Jr. potentially stole the sign before his 2nd HR last night: "If that is the case, which I don’t know, that will be noted.”

Does that mean an adjustment or the catcher looking for it?

"No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) April 25, 2021

Ugh, can we please not?

You and Manny do make a pretty cute couple afterall https://t.co/o1CYzHTSjb

— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) April 25, 2021

Apparently it still needs to be said that using a relationship between two men as a punchline is not acceptable

— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) April 25, 2021

Yep.