Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
A moment of silence for the dinger statue.
Despite the Dodger defense taking the day off last night, the Dodgers managed to pull through in extras. It was a weird game, with three errors and some not-great bullpenning being cancelled out by Mookie Betts (imagine trading him) as the Dodgers took the opener in Miami. It was the sixth win in the last seven games for the Dodgers and their 41st win in their last 50, which seems hard to do. They’re 50 games over .500, which is good imo. Tonight, they look for a fifth consecutive win over Miami and (with some help from the Royals) could take a 20.5 game lead in the West.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 3:10 PM | Miami | ||
| RF | Betts | 3B | Wendle (L) |
| SS | T. Turner | 2B | Berti |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | RF | Anderson |
| C | Smith | CF | Bleday (L) |
| DH | Muncy (L) | DH | Cooper |
| 3B | Turner | SS | Rojas |
| LF | Gallo (L) | 1B | Diaz (L) |
| 2B | Taylor | C | Stallings |
| CF | Bellinger (L) | LF | Burdick |
| P | May (R) | P | Alcantara (R) |
Dustin May makes his second start off the IL, both coming against Miami. I don’t think the most optimistic Dodger fan could have seen May’s first start coming. He needed 71 pitches to get through five innings. His first inning was a bit rough, as he allowed a leadoff single and two walks but struck out the side for a scoreless frame. Brian Anderson‘s two-out walk in the first was the last baserunner May would allow, as he threw four more perfect innings and registered nine strikeouts. The Marlins aren’t exactly a high-powered offense, but May made them look silly and it was a really encouraging first start back in over a year.
Opposing May is Sandy Alcantara, who the Dodgers saw last Sunday in LA. Alcantara entered that start with a 1.92 ERA in 173 innings. 3 2/3 innings later, Alcantara had a 2.19 ERA after the Dodgers put up 10 hits and six runs off him. It was Alcantara’s shortest start of the season and he needed 89 pitches to get through those 3 2/3 innings. This was nothing new for Alcantara, who owns a 14.79 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers (31 hits and 23 earned runs allowed in only 14 career innings).
Gavin Lux is out of the lineup again for the Dodgers, who start Chris Taylor at second and Joey Gallo in left. Lux is reportedly just getting an extra day and should be back tomorrow or Monday.
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Jake Reed is in Miami.
The Dodgers impressively have three relievers unavailable one game after an off day. Brusdar Graterol has pitched in three of the last four games since coming off the IL. The Dodgers wanted to avoid using him last night, but needed him in extras. David Price threw 26 pitches last night, and Chris Martin was reportedly unavailable with a sore elbow yesterday and will be unavailable again tonight. Reed hasn’t been activated as of me scheduling this post.
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Clayton Kershaw threw what could be his last bullpen before rejoining the rotation
Kershaw thinks he’ll be ready to go Thursday in New York or Friday at home against the Padres.
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First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 PM PT and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.
