Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers wrapped up their final road trip of the regular season with a win in San Diego last night. They finished 54-27 on the road, which matches the number of wins the Washington Nationals have coming into today. The Dodgers finished 14-5 against the Padres and outscored them 109-47 in the 19 games, which seems hard to do against a probable playoff team. The NL West has been decided for a while, robbing us of a fun schedule quirk deciding the division.
Due to the lockout, the Dodgers wrap up the regular season with six home games against the last-place Colorado Rockies, which would be a hilarious thing if the divisional race was close. The Rockies have lost five in a row and nine of their last 10. They have the fourth-worst record in the NL despite being over .500 at home. The Dodgers are 8-5 against the Rockies, but have won all three of the games they’ve played in LA.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Daza | RF | Betts |
| DH | Iglesias | SS | T. Turner |
| 3B | McMahon (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Cron | C | Smith |
| 2B | Rodgers | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| LF | Bouchard | DH | Thompson |
| C | Diaz | 2B | Lux (L) |
| SS | Tovar | LF | Taylor |
| RF | Toglia (S) | CF | Bellinger (L) |
| P | Kuhl (R) | P | Kershaw (L) |
Clayton Kershaw gets his 400th career start tonight, and will likely get two starts in this super mega series against the Rockies (seriously Chad, what are we calling a six-game sweep). Kershaw’s been excellent since his return from the IL on September 1. In five September starts, Kershaw allowed six runs and 21 hits in 30 innings. His worst start came last time out against the Cardinals, where he allowed two runs and seven hits over six innings. He struck out 36 batters over those five starts while issuing only five walks and allowing two homers. Kershaw made two starts in Colorado this season. The first time out was his worst start of the season, as he allowed six runs, nine hits and four walks in four innings (all of which are season-highs). He was a bit better in his second start, as he allowed five runs (three earned) and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Chad Kuhl gets his 27th start of the season for the Rockies tonight. Kuhl has mostly had a rough season, with a 5.45 ERA/5.18 FIP. He’s been worse away from Coors (5.84 road ERA, 5.08 home ERA), but naturally had his best start of the season against the Dodgers. On June 27, Kuhl threw a complete game three-hit shutout, facing two over the minimum as one of the hits he surrendered was erased on a double play. Since then, Kuhl has not found nearly as much success. That was the last time Kuhl allowed fewer than three runs in a game and has an 8.15 ERA/6.88 FIP in 12 starts since. One of those starts also came against the Dodgers, who clearly figured him out to the tune of six hits, five runs and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
Kuhl throws a sinker most often according to Baseball Savant, and maybe he shouldn’t. He throws it 42 percent of the time and opponents have a .367 batting average (.347 xBA) and .588 slugging (.595 xSLG) against it and an average exit velocity of 94 MPH. He also throws a slider (36.6 percent), curve (11.7 percent) and changeup (7.3 percent), and has 56 four seamers thrown.
Trayce Thompson returns to the lineup as the DH after being scratched yesterday.
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A pair of updates on injured starters.
Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May both threw bullpen sessions today. Gonsolin made a successful rehab start and could be in line to start one of these Rockies games before the NLDS. This was May’s first bullpen session since hitting the IL with back tightness, and he could return in the DS.
Other #Dodgers updates:
— Jack Harris (@Jack_A_Harris) September 30, 2022
* Blake Treinen’s got out to 120 feet during catch play again. Roberts is still hopeful he’ll be back for DS, but his status remains uncertain
* Justin Turner is doing better. Could be back in lineup tomorrow
* Trayce Thompson is back in lineup today
Blake Treinen played catch today and could be back for the DS. Justin Turner remains out of the lineup today but could return tomorrow.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.
