Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (21-13) won their first extra-innings game of the season last night by a score of 4-3 over the Atlanta Braves (20-10). This improves their extra-innings record on the year to 1-3. Not great, but it’s something. Michael Grove got his first win of the year, and Andy Pages added to an already great rookie season, with a four hit night including the walk-off single. The Dodgers will look to win the series against Atlanta tonight with Tyler Glasnow on the mound up against Bryce Elder.
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| 6:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| RF | Acuña Jr. | SS | Betts |
| 2B | Albies (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 3B | Riley | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Olson (L) | C | Smith |
| DH | Ozuna | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| C | d’Arnaud | LF | T. Hernández |
| CF | Harris II (L) | RF | Pages |
| SS | Arcia | CF | Outman (L) |
| LF | Kelenic (L) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| P | Elder (R) | P | Glasnow (R) |
The Dodgers will run out the exact same lineup as they did last night against the right-handed vet, Charlie Morton. Over the last two weeks, the Dodgers offense is led by Will Smith (1.104 OPS), with Pages at 1.002, followed by Shohei Ohtani (.976), Mookie Betts (.949), and Freddie Freeman (.916). It’s too early for any sort of defensive metrics to carry much weight, but DRS has Pages at +3 in right field, and 1 OAA accompanied by a huge arm.
Funny enough, the Braves will run out the exact same lineup as well. Makes my work editing the lineups easy.
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Here’s how Elder and Glasnow matchup. Elder has made just two starts this year, so his numbers are from 2023. Glasnow’s ranks are among 81 starters with at least thirty innings pitched.
Glasnow was good in his last outing, allowing one earned run on two hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in a win against the Blue Jays. He left that start with cramping at the very end of his outing, but was adamant that it was no big deal and just more humid than he anticipated in Toronto. He’s been dominant and reliable this far, as he’s fifth in innings pitched and likely to take the lead again after this outing. His 53 strikeouts lead baseball, and he’s tied for the lead in wins with five.
He currently has the third most valuable pitch in all of baseball via his four-seam fastball, racking up a total run value of +8. Despite the elite performance thus far, it still feels like we haven’t even quite seen the best of Glasnow yet. Okay fine, besides the fourteen strikeout outing against the Twins. It deserves taking a more in-depth look at, but so far he’s getting less strikes and swings overall with the curveball. It’s one of the best pitches in baseball, so it’s possible he elevates his game when he finds a way to generate more swings on it again. A few years back, Foolish Baseball made a video on Glasnow and his elite curve.
Elder (1.50 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.33 WHIP) had a decent outing in his second start of the year last time out, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks over 5.1 innings pitched. He went 6.2 scoreless innings against the Marlins in his season debut, but the command just wasn’t there in his last appearance. It’s early in the year, but he has four walks to six strikeouts over 12 innings so far. He’s not spectacular but he has solid command, generates ground balls, and manages to get outs and log innings. That’s a very valuable pitcher to have in 2024.
Like I said, not overly impressive but he finds a way to get outs. He made two starts against the Dodgers last year, both resulting in no-decision. He went six innings each time, with a total of two earned runs allowed on twelve hits and five walks with ten strikeouts.
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In other news,
Ohtani and Dave Roberts both seem to be having fun this year.
Important content.
Jason Heyward getting healthy is definitely good, but it creates a bit of an issue in the outfield with how well Pages has been playing. Something to monitor as his return gets closer.
Over the next two days, the Dodgers will have two pitchers return from injury who haven’t pitched with the big league team in a long time. Blake Treinen last appeared in the 2022 NLDS and Walker Buehler last pitched in June of 2022. Hopefully they can stay healthy.
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First pitch is at 6:10 PT on SNLA.
