Rockies @ Dodgers June 1, 2024: Dodgers look to kick off June on the right foot after a rough end to May

The Dodgers saw their offensive struggles return as they returned home to face Colorado last night. They couldn’t figure out Dakota Hudson, who came into the game with a mid-5 ERA and threw seven shutout innings before leaving two on to begin the eighth, only one of which ended up scoring. It was an offensive showing that’s becoming a bit too common for the Dodgers, who finished May with a .730 OPS for the month (fifth-best in baseball). They only OPS’d .687 as a team after May 12, which was good for 17th in baseball. It was their sixth loss in the last nine games and the fourth time in that span they’ve scored one or zero runs. Today, they look to bounce back to kick off June in the middle game of this weird three-game homestand in between east coast road trips.

	7:10 PM		Los Angeles
RF	Blackmon (L)	SS	Betts
SS	Tovar	DH	Ohtani (L)
3B	McMahon (L)	1B	Freeman (L)
C	Díaz	C	Smith
DH	Bryant	LF	T. Hernández
2B	Rodgers	2B	Lux (L)
1B	Montero	CF	Pages
CF	Doyle	RF	Heyward (L)
LF	Bouchard	3B	K. Hernández
P	Quantrill (R)	P	Yamamoto (R)

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets his 12th start of the season tonight. He had a rough start (really just a rough inning) on Sunday in Cincinnati. He allowed a single and a walk, and then allowed three two-out singles that plated four runs. That was all Yamamoto game up in his five innings, but he gave up six hits and needed 100 pitches to get through those five frames. Yamamoto’s allowed four runs in two of his last three games (both on the road), but he’s struck out 22 over those 17 innings and has only walked five.

Cal Quantrill also makes his 12th start of the season. Quantrill was excellent in May, as he allowed six runs over 31 2/3 innings over five starts that saw the Rockies go 4-1. Quantrill went at least six innings in each start and didn’t allow more than two runs in any game. He didn’t exactly face a murderer’s row of offenses, but he did hold the Phillies to two runs and three hits over six innings at Coors his last time out. The Dodgers have seen Quantrill four times in the past, but not since 2022. Quantrill and the Guardians came to LA in June 2022 and took two of three, but the lone loss came with Quantrill on the hill. He allowed five runs and 10 hits over five innings in a 7-1 Dodger victory. It wasn’t his worst start against the Dodgers. In his rookie season, Quantrill allowed eight runs in 4 1/3 against the Dodgers as a Padre.

Quantrill throws a sinker 39.4 percent of the time and has a 48.4 percent ground ball rate, the 16th-best among qualified starters. He’s thrown a splitter 34.4 of the time and batters are only hitting .130 on it with a .167 slugging. He’s thrown a cutter 12.1 percent of the time, curve 9.4 percent of the time and a change 4.7 percent.

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Clayton Kershaw faced hitters for the first time today.

Kershaw said: “I feel alright. Shoulder feels healthy and now it's just a matter of building your pitches back up and getting ready to go.”

Next up is another sim game. https://t.co/ht9iVDn8kG

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) June 1, 2024

Kershaw faced Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes and Kendall George in his 20-pitch outing. There’s still no timeline on his possible return, but his shoulder is supposedly healthy. He’s expected to throw a two-inning sim game as his next step in Rancho as the Dodgers will be on the east coast again.

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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.

Also, happy first day of Pride Month, or as I call it: “the first day of finding a shit-ton of new accounts to block month”.