Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Following a decisive 10-1 victory last night, the Dodgers (2-1) will look to Noah Syndergaard to lead them to their first series win of the season. Syndergaard will make his Dodgers debut, up against the right-handed Zach Davies for the Diamondbacks.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| 3B | Rojas (L) | 2B | Betts |
| 2B | Marte (S) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Gurriel Jr. | C | Smith |
| 1B | Walker | DH | Martinez (L) |
| LF | Carroll (L) | LF | Peralta (L) |
| RF | McCarthy (L) | RF | Thompson |
| CF | Thomas (L) | CF | Outman (L) |
| SS | Perdomo (S) | 3B | Taylor |
| C | Herrera (S) | SS | Rojas |
| P | Davies (R) | P | Syndergaard (R) |
Trayce Thompson had the game of his career last night, with three home runs, one of which being a grand slam, driving in eight of ten runs. He’s tied with C.J. Cron for the most home runs in baseball. Deservedly, he’ll get the start again today, this time in right field as Mookie Betts slides to second base. Betts is making his first start of the season at second base, after starting just five games at second in 2022. It’s been mentioned this offseason that it’s possible he plays a bit more second base this year, and with a relatively crowded outfield it makes a bit of sense for the time being.
Left-handers David Peralta and James Outman will be in left and center, and Will Smith is back behind the plate after a day off yesterday.
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This is how these two starters performed in 2022 amongst 90 pitchers with at least 130 innings pitched, Davies with Arizona, and Syndergaard with the Angels and Phillies.
Neither of these two were dominant in any regard last year, but for the back end of a rotation they were very serviceable. The Dodgers are hopeful that Syndergaard will be able to maintain that level of command and control he showed last year, and would love to see if he can improve upon that ERA like Andrew Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Syndergaard said he was bothered by a blister in his final Spring Training outing, giving up six earned runs, inflating his final Spring Training ERA to 5.79. It seems he’s been bothered by this blister for a little while now, so hopefully it’s not an issue today or for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, Arizona is in the process of getting all their young talented players lots of playing time, so they’ll likely look to get a low 4 ERA over 130+ innings from Davies again. He’ll have his hands full starting his year against the Dodgers. Davies had a 12.91 ERA in Spring Training albeit in just three appearances, allowing 11 earned runs in 7.2 innings. He made five starts against the Dodgers last season, with a 5.82 ERA, 5.19 FIP, 1.52 WHIP, and an 0-2 record over 21.2 innings.
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CSW% is Called Strikes+Whiffs, and yes Clayton Kershaw was facing Arizona, but it’s still great to see him being so good.
Pretty cool.
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Getting Tony Gonsolin back will obviously be a big addition to the rotation, but it’d be nice to see Syndergaard and Michael Grove have success in the meantime.
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First pitch is at 1:10 PM on SNLA.
