Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Yesterday started off ominously for the Dodgers, who were on a five-game losing streak and only managed four baserunners over seven innings against Tylor Megill. They were down 2-0 heading in to the eighth inning of the first game of a doubleheader, but tied the game in the ninth and put up three runs in the 10th to take the day game. In the night game, Gavin Stone turned in the best start of his career to lead the Dodgers to a 3-0 win. The vibe seems back, and now the Dodgers have a chance for a three-game sweep to end this weird road trip. The Dodgers return home for three games on Friday before heading back east to face Pittsburgh and the Yankees.
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| 1:10 P.M. | Queens | ||
| 2B | Betts | SS | Lindor (S) |
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 1B | Alonso |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | DH | Martinez |
| C | Smith | 3B | Vientos |
| RF | T. Hernández | RF | Marte |
| CF | Pages | LF | Taylor |
| 3B | K. Hernández | 2B | McNeil (L) |
| SS | Rojas | CF | Bader |
| LF | Vargas | C | Nido |
| P | Paxton (L) | P | Peterson (L) |
James Paxton makes his 10th start of the season tonight. He turned in his worst start as a Dodger last time out in Cincinnati, where he allowed five runs, five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. It was one of the uglier-pitched games by a Dodger in a minute. He walked two in the first inning before allowing a three-run homer to Spencer Steer and then allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth. He got two outs in the fifth, but issued another walk before Yohan Ramirez came in and did not fare very well. He threw 13 pitches and only one of those was a strike. He hit two of the three batters he faced in 3-0 counts and issued a five-pitch walk, and he allowed a fifth earned run off Paxton and left the bases loaded for Alex Vesia, who allowed a grand slam. Paxton’s faced the Mets four times in his career, but only once since 2019. Last season, Paxton faced the Mets in Boston and allowed three runs in six innings and struck out seven, which he hasn’t done in 16 starts since.
David Peterson returns for the Mets today to make his first start of the season. Peterson had surgery on his hip in the offseason and missed the first couple months of the season, but has looked good in his rehab starts. Peterson threw 23 2/3 innings over six starts at three minor league levels this season and allowed three total earned runs with 35 strikeouts and only three walks. Peterson had a rough 2023, with a 5.03 ERA/4.34 FIP in 111 innings over 21 starts (27 outings overall). He was up and down from the Minors a few times but faced the Dodgers twice, once as a starter and once as a reliever. The Mets lost seven of Peterson’s first eight starts last year, with the exception naturally being in LA on April 17. The Dodgers roughed Peterson up for six runs and seven hits over six innings, but Dustin May and Vesia struggled and gave the Mets an 8-6 win. Peterson got an inning in relief against the Dodgers in July and allowed a leadoff walk and a pair of two-out singles, one of which drove in a run.
Peterson has a decently even five-pitch mix. Last season, he threw a four-seamer 27.3 percent of the time, sinker 25.3 percent of the time, slider 19.7 percent of the time and changeup 18.9 percent, almost exclusively to righties. He also mixed in a curveball 8.8 percent of the time. Peterson had freakishly even splits last season, as he allowed a .823 OPS against righties and .822 against lefties. It’s a bit more split over his career (.766 OPS against righties, .721 against lefties).
Miguel Vargas starts again in left after hitting his first homer of the season last night. Miguel Rojas starts at short and Mookie Betts starts at second for the first time in exactly a month. Dave Roberts said Mookie was at second to lighten the load after playing 18 innings at short yesterday.
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Not many updates pregame, but the Dodgers did a pretty good job managing the bullpen through their two games yesterday. It helps when Tyler Glasnow and Stone each went seven, but they only used four relievers yesterday. Michael Grove threw nine pitches, Daniel Hudson threw 13 and Blake Treinen threw 13 in the early game and Vesia threw 30 pitches over two innings to close out the nightcap. He’s almost definitely unavailable today, but the bullpen is actually in a decent spot heading into today with the off day tomorrow and potential return of Evan Phillips on Friday.
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First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
