Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Right, that won’t happen.
But there’s still plenty of ways to be disappointed tonight as Tony Gonsolin faces Jake Arrieta looking to snap the Dodgers’ 4-game losing streak. Meanwhile the Giants have won 3 straight and lead the NL West by 4.5 games and the Padres are now even with the Dodgers, who have slipped back to a 95-win pace.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Pederson (L) | RF | Betts |
| 3B | Bryant | 1B | Muncy (L) |
| SS | Baez | 3B | Turner |
| 1B | Rizzo (L) | CF | Bellinger (L) |
| C | Contreras | C | Smith |
| 2B | Happ (S) | SS | Lux (L) |
| RF | Heyward (L) | LF | Pollock |
| CF | Ortega | 2B | McKinstry (L) |
| P | Arrieta (R) | P | Gonsolin (R) |
Chris Taylor gets the night off and Will Smith is behind the plate after Austin Barnes caught Walker Buehler last night. Other than that, it’s just about what you’d expect now that Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger are back.
The good news for tonight is Arrieta isn’t very good anymore and hasn’t been for a few years now. Holding a 5.45 ERA/5.58 FIP/4.74 xFIP through 66 IP, the 35-year-old has given up 15 ER and 20 hits across 15 IP in June. Arrieta has already given up 14 homers this season, with six apiece against his slider and sinker.
Throwing his sinker around 55% of the time this season, Arrieta is down to 91.1 mph. It had sat around 92-93 dating back to 2016, though the moment is mostly still the same. It’s the curve where Arrieta is still seeing some success, with 18 of his 56 strikeouts coming on the pitch he throws 16.4% of the time. Sitting at 41.6 Whiff% and a .160 xBA/.304 xSLG/.207 xWOBA, it will not surprise you to hear Arrieta goes to the curve when he’s ahead in the count.
Marking a high for any pitch in dating back to 2012, Arrieta is throwing his curve 40.8% of the time at 0-2. With the sinker used (again, to no surprise) 69.4% of the time to begin an at-bat, there’s not a lot of mystery here.
For the Dodgers, Gonsolin has still thrown just 193 pitches this season in his outings of 1 2/3 IP, 3 2/3 IP and another 3 2/3 IP. The 46 pitches against the Diamondbacks on Sunday was the lowest this season thanks to some concern with his shoulder.
To add a visual to the velocity dip:
So that is worth keeping an eye on tonight, but there’s really not much more to dive into with Gonsolin given how little we have seen so far. And he hasn’t really looked any different from the other years he’s been in the majors so far.
And so you’re not surprised when he exits early again tonight, Dave Roberts said pregame that he’s on another pitch count.
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When the Dodgers head to DC next week for their 4-games series (and 8:05 a.m. PT first pitch on July 4), they are hopeful to stop by the White House.
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It might not technically be major league injury news, but Josiah Gray was back on the mound for BP in OKC this afternoon.
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First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. PT.
