Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers took game one of the series in San Diego yesterday to keep pace with the Giants. Yesterday’s win got a little dicey at the end, as Corey Knebel, Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen needed a combined 64 pitches to record the final six outs and put the game on ice. Today, the Dodgers look for their 80th win of the season and their 12th in the last 13 games.
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| 7:10 PM | San Diego | ||
| 2B | T. Turner | CF | Grisham (L) |
| 1B | Muncy (L) | RF | Tatis Jr. |
| 3B | J. Turner | 3B | Machado |
| LF | Pollock | SS | Cronenworth (L) |
| SS | Seager (L) | C | Nola |
| RF | Taylor | 1B | Hosmer (L) |
| C | Smith | LF | Myers |
| CF | Bellinger (L) | 2B | Frazier (L) |
| P | Buehler (R) | P | Snell (L) |
Walker Buehler starts for the Dodgers for the 26th time in 2021. Buehler’s been excellent this season. Last time out against the Mets, he allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings and that raised his ERA to 2.11 for the season, which leads qualified starters. Buehler’s completed six innings or more in 24 of his 25 starts and has allowed more than three runs only five times (compared to seven scoreless outings). Buehler made back-to-back starts against the Padres in April. The first start was in San Diego, and Buehler allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings while striking out four. He followed that up with another two run outing in LA, but struck out nine and allowed only four hits over seven frames. Buehler allowed a solo home run in each of those games, the first to Fernando Tatis Jr. and the second to Trent Grisham.
Blake Snell makes his 24th start of the season for the Padres tonight. Snell has been the anti-Buehler in a way, as he’s pitched into the sixth inning only five times in his 23 starts. Snell has struggled for most of the season but has turned it around in August, allowing six runs and 16 hits in 22 innings over four starts. Two of those starts came against the Diamondbacks so take that with a grain of salt, but he’s been performing closer to the pitcher San Diego thought they were getting of late. Snell’s main issue has been walking batters. He’s issues multiple walks in each of his last 11 starts and walked more batters than he struck out in four of those starts.
Snell has had success against the Dodgers this season. He made consecutive starts against the Dodgers in April and allowed two runs and struck out seven batters in each of them, the first over five innings and the second over 5 1/3. Snell also shut the Dodgers out over five innings on June 22. Snell has thrown a fastball that averages 95.1 MPH more than half the time this season, and also mixes in a slider, curve and change. He exclusively throws his changeup to righties, and they’re hitting .429 with a .595 slugging percentage off it (with xBA and xSLG of .352 and .481, respectively).
The Dodgers roll out mostly the same lineup as yesterday. Yesterday’s hero AJ Pollock moves up to the cleanup spot with Will Smith dropping to seventh. Cody Bellinger starts against a lefty and Albert Pujols sits against a lefty.
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The Dodgers made a roster move.
Joe Kelly is back after a rehab stint in Rancho. Kelly last pitched on August 6 before hitting the Covid IL. He made two rehab appearances at Rancho and issued two walks but allowed no hits. Victor Gonzalez was optioned to make room, which is interesting as it leaves Alex Vesia and Justin Bruihl as the two lefties in the bullpen.
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There will be another roster move tomorrow.
Mookie Betts will likely be back and in the lineup for tomorrow’s finale. The hidden injury update in that tweet is that Tony Gonsolin threw a 25-pitch simulated game today.
Clayton Kershaw reportedly bounced back well from his bullpen yesterday.
Kershaw played catch again today and will throw breaking balls in a bullpen tomorrow. Kershaw’s goal is to return in a starting role and not a bullpen role for the stretch run.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PDT and will be shown on ESPN and Sportsnet LA.
