Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
For the second consecutive night, the Dodgers’ bullpen did not make the game easy in the final innings. Luckily, and I really mean luckily, the team escaped bases loaded no outs jams twice. The team held on and secured the win, and will look to win the series tonight against Pittsburgh.
Daniel Hudson sprained his right MCL last night and will go on the Injured List for another significant stretch. Terrible news for the team but more specifically for him. Julio Urias will make his second start after returning from the Injured List, up against the right-handed Johan Oviedo.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 3B | Hayes | SS | Betts |
| LF | Reynolds (S) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| RF | Davis | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| DH | Santana (S) | DH | Martinez |
| 1B | Joe | LF | Peralta (L) |
| CF | Suwinski (L) | RF | Heyward (L) |
| SS | Gonzales | 2B | Vargas |
| 2B | Castro (S) | CF | Outman (L) |
| C | Delay | C | Barnes |
| P | Oviedo (R) | P | Urías (L) |
With Austin Barnes in the lineup, the team has an absolute black hole in the 9 spot, so Dave Roberts will adjust the lineup to optimize offense to compensate. The main move there is to start Mookie Betts at shortstop as Miguel Rojas is one of the weaker bats in the lineup. That puts Miguel Vargas at second base, although that decision as a whole is up for debate. Rojas is slashing .265/.300/.337, for a 74 wRC+ since the beginning of June. He’s been even better over the last few weeks, with a .304/.355/.393 slashline and a 106 wRC+ since June 14, over his last 18 games and 62 plate appearances. Vargas obviously has a significantly higher ceiling, but he’s been struggling for quite some time now. He has a .071/.169/.161 slash with a -12 wRC+ since June 10. That’s 19 games and 66 plate appearances.
David Peralta on the other hand has been on fire. A relatively poor first three weeks have held his overall numbers back as a whole. He has a .310/.349/.474 slash since April 19, with a 123 wRC+ and .823 OPS over 56 games and 186 plate appearances. Over his last two months, that’s up to an .897 OPS and 144 wRC+. Over the last month and a half he’s hitting .361 with a 154 wRC+, and is hitting .385 since May 26. Pretty unreal stuff from him lately.
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Oviedo (3-9) allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and three walks while striking out one over five innings to take the loss Saturday against the Brewers. It was easily the worst start of his season. He’s still just 25, and has been having a successful season as a whole for the Pirates. He’s been very up and down, and the outing did add to his inconsistent season, as he’s allowed one or fewer earned runs in seven of his 17 starts, yet allowed more than five in three starts. Overall he has a 4.61 ERA over 93.2 innings, though that was significantly damaged by his previous outing. He had a 4.06 ERA before his game against the Brewers, and had a 2.96 ERA over his previous nine starts. We’ll see which version of Oviedo comes out tonight. He’s allowed a .766 OPS against left-handed batters this year, compared to .697 against right-handed batters, and the Dodgers will get all their lefties in the lineup.
Urías (5-5) took the loss against Kansas City on Saturday, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out two batters over three innings. Urías’ return from a stint on the Injured List due to a hamstring injury didn’t go well, though part of the issue was bad fortune. Of the four hits he allowed in the first inning, three were bloop singles that left the bat at less than 72 mph. Regardless, the Royals put up five runs in that frame, and Urías’ struggles weren’t limited to bloopers — he also issued a walk and hit a batter with a pitch. He retired five of the final six batters he faced, but he was lifted after 66 pitches since he was on a pitch count following the layoff. He’ll look to bounce back tonight, and the team has missed his innings almost more than the performance.
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Yency Almonte has been strong as of late, but the team will likely need Alex Vesia to figure it out at some point anyways. Nick Robertson will be on the roster as well as Daniel Hudson goes to the Injured List once again. The only good news is that the sprained MCL is on his right knee, not his left knee which had the ACL tear.
Obviously a lot would have to occur for Noah Syndergaard to end up in a game, but I’m almost intrigued by what would have to happen for that to be reality.
Hopefully they can get to the All-Star Break without any other major injuries.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PM PT on SNLA and MLB Network.
