Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers ended an east coast road trip with a sweep of the Mets, returned home for a three-game set with the Rockies and now head back east to open up another six-game road trip. They haven’t been firing on all cylinders offensively, but took two of three against the Rockies and allowed one run over the final 23 innings in the series.
Now they travel to Pittsburgh, where the Dodgers haven’t won a series since 2021. The Pirates are 27-32, but are playing .500 ball since May 3 and have gotten a spark from two young pitchers the Dodgers will see this series. The Pirates lost two of three in Toronto over the weekend and find themselves only a half game ahead of the Reds for fourth place in the Central.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:40 P.M. | Pittsburgh | ||
| SS | Betts | DH | McCutchen |
| DH | Ohtani (L) | LF | Reynolds (S) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | RF | Joe |
| C | Smith | SS | Cruz (L) |
| LF | T. Hernández | 3B | Hayes |
| RF | Heyward (L) | 2B | Gonzales |
| 2B | Lux (L) | 1B | Tellez (L) |
| 3B | Rojas | C | Davis |
| CF | Taylor | CF | Suwinski (L) |
| P | Glasnow (R) | P | Jones (R) |
Tyler Glasnow makes his first career start against the team that drafted him. The Pirates drafted Glasnow in 2011 and he made 56 appearances (17 starts) for the Pirates before being traded to Tampa for Chris Archer. Glasnow’s a much better pitcher than he was in Pittsburgh, but in 30 career games at PNC Park he allowed an .854 OPS and a 5.23 ERA in 75 2/3 innings. Glasnow struggled with his command in his last start in New York. He issued four walks, matching his season-high from his first start in Korea. One of those walks was cashed in on a Francisco Lindor homer, which were the only two runs Glasnow allowed over seven innings. He only allowed two hits and struck out eight, but the four walks were rough. Glasnow’s been pretty dominant in his five starts away from Dodger Stadium this season (including that Korea start). He’s allowed six runs and 10 hits in 32 innings on the road this season and a .099/.202/.198 slash line against him. However, he’s walked more on the road (13) in 10 fewer innings than he has at home (eight walks in 42 innings at Dodger Stadium).
Jared Jones gets his 12th start of his rookie campaign. His results haven’t been quite as good as his metrics, but Jones has had an extremely impressive rookie season so far. He has a 3.55 ERA/3.80 FIP over 63 1/3 innings and had completed five innings in each start before his most recent one. Jones struggled last time out in Detroit, where he allowed five earned runs (and seven runs total) over 4 1/3 innings. He’s allowed three or more runs in each of his last three outings and in six of his 11 starts this season.
However, this seems good. Jones does get hit hard when he does get hit, but has put up some elite chase and whiff numbers. He’s only running a 4.8 percent walk rate, which is quite good for a rookie starter. Five of the 12 walks he’s issued this season have come in the last two games, and he’s putting up a strong strikeout rate despite striking out five or fewer in three of his last four outings.
Jones has leaned on his fastball this year. It averages 97.2 MPH and he’s thrown it 48 percent of the time. It’s his “worst” whiff pitch, with a whiff rate of only 29 percent. He pairs the fastball with a slider that he throws 38.4 percent and will mix in a curve and change (7.4 and 6.2 percent of the time, respectfully).
Chris Taylor gets the start in center today, and Miguel Rojas starts at third over Enrique Hernandez. The Pirates called up Jack Suwinski and Henry Davis and both are in the lineup, hitting at the bottom of the order.
——
MLB closed their investigation on the Ippei Mizuhara/Shohei Ohtani gambling story today.
NEWS: Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former and longtime interpreter, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges during a change-of-plea hearing in federal court this morning.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) June 4, 2024
Total maximum sentence: 33 years.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 25 at 2 pm PT.
MLB statement: “Based on the thoroughness of the federal investigation that was made public, the information MLB collected, and the criminal proceeding being resolved without being contested, MLB considers Shohei Ohtani a victim of fraud and this matter has been closed.”
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 4, 2024
Ippei plead guilty to bank and tax fraud and could face up to 33 years in prison. MLB ruled that Ohtani was the victim here and closed their investigation into any potential wrongdoing by him.
Surely, Twitter is taking this well and not still claiming this was a cover up right? Especially in light of the ban placed on former Pirate Tucupita Marcano for betting on baseball. Surely no one is making the joke that Marcano and the other suspended players should have gotten a translator. Surely.
——
First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
