Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers saw their four-game winning streak snapped yesterday, as they couldn’t overcome a rough second inning from Bobby Miller and some truly insane Cub infield defense. They did continue their streak of scoring 5+ runs in each of their first 10 games, and today’s lineup will definitely put that streak to the test.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:05 P.M. | Chicago | ||
| 2B | Betts | LF | Happ (S) |
| DH | Ohtani (L) | RF | Suzuki |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | CF | Bellinger (L) |
| RF | T. Hernández | DH | Morel |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | SS | Swanson |
| CF | K. Hernández | 1B | Busch (L) |
| LF | Taylor | 2B | Hoerner |
| SS | Rojas | 3B | Madrigal |
| C | Barnes | C | Gomes |
| P | Yamamoto (R) | P | Wicks (L) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets his third start and technically his first road start, as the Dodgers were the home team when he pitched in Korea. Yamamoto bounced back from an awful debut with a strong home debut against the Cardinals. In Korea, Yamamoto threw 43 pitches and only 23 of those went for strikes. Against the Cardinals, 45 of his 68 pitches were strikes. He didn’t walk a batter and allowed only two hits in five shutout innings. He struck out the side in the first but only picked up two more strikeouts over the final four innings. It was still a strong start, but was wasted by the Joe Kelly-est Joe Kelly outing imaginable. The Dodgers still haven’t won a Yamamoto start, clearly he doesn’t have #thewilltowin.
Rookie Jordan Wicks starts for the Cubs today. It’s his second start of the season after a seven start cup of coffee last season. He was impressive for most his time in the Majors last season, as he allowed only 11 runs in 33 innings over his first six starts. Unfortunately he ended the season on a rough note, as he allowed six runs and six hits over 1 2/3 innings against Milwaukee (in a game the Cubs won, because they scored six runs in the first inning against Eric Lauer). Wicks had a strong spring (2.53 ERA in 21 1/3 innings), but had a rough first start against Texas aided by some rough defense. He allowed five runs over four innings, but three of them were unearned thanks to errors by Dansby Swanson and Christopher Morel. He did strike out six, but issued three walks and allowed five hits over those four innings.
MLB Pipeline gave Wicks’ changeup a 65 grade, and it was his most-used pitch in his seven starts last season. He threw it 29.7 percent of the time, nearly always to righties, and only allowed a .171 average and .317 slugging against it. His four-seamer got hammered last season, as he allowed a .368 average and .711 slugging against it. He also mixed in a sinker, cutter, curve a slider.
The Dodgers give Will Smith the day off with Austin Barnes starting behind the plate. Mookie Betts starts at second with Miguel Rojas at short, and Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez man left and center with Teoscar Hernandez in right. Hopefully the wind isn’t winding as hard today.
——
Miller failed to get out of the second inning yesterday, but the Dodger bullpen isn’t in unmanageable shape. They only used three relievers yesterday, as Dinelson Lamet, Alex Vesia and Michael Grove finished it out. The Dodgers did make a move for a fresh arm, as Gus Varland was called up.
Dinelson Lamet was designated for assignment to make roster room for Gus Varland, who was recalled from OKC
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) April 6, 2024
Lamet was designated for assignment to make room for Varland. Varland hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, so he should be pretty fresh.
——
First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA and FS1.
