Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers started the 2023 campaign with a frustrating series. They outscored the Diamondbacks by 13 runs in four games and saw each of their starters register a quality start, but lost a pair of 2-1 games in which they combined to hit 0-13 with runners in scoring position. The pitching was dominant all series, but offensive struggles and a few questionable bullpen decisions gave the Dodgers a series split.
Today, they begin a two-game set with the Rockies. Colorado rained on San Diego’s Opening Day parade with a 7-2 win to begin the season in San Diego. They won again on Friday, but the Padres took the last two games of the series for a split. With the Giants’ dominant win today, every team in the NL West is currently 2-2.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Profar (S) | RF | Betts |
| RF | Bryant | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Blackmon (L) | C | Smith |
| 1B | Cron | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 2B | McMahon (L) | DH | Martinez |
| 3B | Moustakas (L) | LF | Outman (L) |
| C | Diaz | 2B | Vargas |
| CF | Castro (L) | CF | Heyward (L) |
| SS | Trejo | SS | Taylor |
| P | Feltner (R) | P | Grove (R) |
Michael Grove gets his first start of 2023. Grove was originally going to be kept off the Opening Day roster, but an oblique injury to Ryan Pepiot left the door open and Grove will get a few starts in the rotation. Grove debuted last year and made seven appearances (six starts) in the Majors, where he posted a 4.60 ERA/5.16 FIP. Grove threw 76 innings between AA and AAA last season and posted a 3.79 ERA combined. He was great in AA, as he allowed five runs in 16 1/3 innings and struck out 22 batters. He struggled a bit more moving up to AAA, where he allowed 27 runs and 10 dongs in 59 2/3 innings. In the Spring, Grove allowed 10 runs in 16 2/3 innings over six starts. Grove was ranked 25th on Dustin and Josh’s top prospect list,
Grove finished the season in the Dodger rotation last season and made four starts in September, the last of which came against the Rockies. Grove was solid first time through the order, but Colorado jumped on him in the fourth. Ryan McMahon led off with a homer, and after a couple singles and a wild pitch Grove allowed another homer to Randal Grichuk.
Ryan Feltner gets the ball for the Rockies in his 2023 debut. Feltner made two starts in 2021 and obviously a small sample size but he managed to outperform his 11.37 ERA with a 10.28 FIP. He fared better in 20 appearances (19 starts) in 2022, with a 5.83 ERA/4.76 FIP. Feltner posted a slightly better ERA away from Coors (5.73 vs 5.95 at home), but allowed 11 homers in 55 road innings while only allowing five in 42 1/3 innings at home. Feltner posted a couple respectable outings against the Dodgers in 2022. His relief appearance came against the Dodgers after Chad Kuhl allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings. Feltner got Kuhl out of a bases loaded spot in the fourth and shut the Dodgers out for another three innings, keeping the Rockies in the game almost long enough for Craig Kimbrel things to happen. In Feltner’s last start of the season, he allowed two runs in six innings at Dodger Stadium. Feltner won the fifth starter spot despite allowing 18 runs in 16 1/3 Spring innings and issuing the same number of walks as strikeouts (10).
Feltner primarily threw a four-seamer, sinker and slider last year. His fastball got lit up, as he allowed a .336 average and .614 slugging percentage on it (xBA and xSLG of .308 and .573, respectively). Feltner also mixed in a curveball and changeup and threw 36 pitches classified on Baseball Savant as a sweeper, which I think is the first time I’ve seen that on there.
Jason Heyward gets his first start of the season. He took over in right for Mookie Betts on Saturday and went 0-2 (but made a sweet diving catch), and grounded out to end the game in a pinch hit spot yesterday. James Outman slides over to left as David Peralta sits against a righty. Miguel Rojas gets his first day off with Chris Taylor starting at short. Max Muncy returns after getting hit in the nuts by a grounder on Saturday.
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Tony Gonsolin has a timeline.
Gonsolin could need up to four minor league outings to build up his workload after only making one Spring start. He could return in late April.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA. I opened my door and the wind blew a picture off my wall almost into my TV. It is windy tonight, folks.
