Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodger lineup came alive late last night, as they overcame Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips all allowing runs to walk off with two outs in the ninth. Will Smith and Freddie Freeman doubled to tie the game off Paul Sewald, who hadn’t blown a save yet this season. Then Teoscar Hernandez came up clutch with a single to left to score Freeman (shoutout to a horrible throw by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) to give the Dodgers their 53rd win of the season. Tonight, the Dodgers look to clinch a series win and send their current surprise ace to the mound to do so.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Carroll (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 2B | Marte (S) | C | Smith |
| DH | Pederson (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Walker | LF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Gurriel Jr. | CF | Pages |
| RF | McCarthy (L) | SS | Rojas |
| 3B | Suarez | RF | Heyward (L) |
| C | Moreno | 3B | Taylor |
| SS | Perdomo (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| P | Mantiply (L) | P | Stone (R) |
Gavin Stone takes the ball today coming off arguably the best start by a Dodger (and one of the best starts among all pitchers) this season. Sure, it was against the White Sox. But Stone came four pitches away from a Maddux as he threw the first complete game shutout by a Dodger in two years and the first by a Dodger rookie since 2013. Stone only faced three batters over the minimum as he allowed four hits (three singles and a double, erased one of the singles on a double play) and struck out seven with no walks. It capped off a fantastic June for Stone, who posted a 1.97 ERA/3.00 FIP over five starts and held batters to a .544 OPS against him. Stone gets his second look at the Diamondbacks tonight and surely hopes it’ll go better than his first. He started in Arizona on May 21 and allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings in a 7-3 Diamondback win. Stone is a Dodger pitcher, meaning naturally he allowed a homer to Christian Walker in that game.
Jordan Montgomery was lined up to start for Arizona today, but was placed on the IL before last night’s game with a knee issue. Instead, Cristian Mena was activated from the Taxi Squad and will make his Major League debut tonight. Mena is the Diamondbacks’ 11th-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline after being acquired from the White Sox in the offseason. The 21-year-old Dominican has a 4.90 ERA and 1.488 WHIP in 82 2/3 innings at AAA so far this season. His most recent start came against OKC and he allowed four runs and eight hits over five innings. Pipeline mentioned Mena’s control as a potential issue after he walked 11.8 percent of batters he faced in AA last season. This season, he’s walked 10.4 percent of batters in AAA. He reportedly has two good breaking pitches and his changeup is solid, but his fastball was a bit of a weak point. He’s topped out at 97 pitches this season and has thrown over 90 in half of his starts, so he should be able to provide some length for Arizona tonight.
The Dodgers roll out the exact same lineup as last night. Arizona moves Corbin Carrol from right to center and Jake McCarthy starts over Alek Thomas.
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Starters for the All-Star Game were announced today. Shohei Ohtani was the lone Dodger starter, as Mookie Betts and Hernandez were outvoted in their respective positions.
Mookie Betts lost his lead to be voted the starting shortstop for the National League.
— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) July 3, 2024
Trea Turner edged him 51% to 49%. #AllStarGame
#Dodgers Teoscar Hernandez finished 4th among OFers https://t.co/QllbcmjyuT
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 3, 2024
Shocker. Shohei Ohtani is starting the All-Star Game.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 3, 2024
Betts wouldn’t have been able to play in the game anyways, but Trea Turner beat him out in voting to earn the starting spot at short. Hernandez finished fourth in outfield voting behind Christian Yelich, Jurickson Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis is currently on the IL and could be out past the break, so it’s possible that Hernandez gets the start as the fourth-leading vote getter (we can ignore outfield defense because a Hernandez-Profar-Yelich outfield would be so bad). Reserves and pitchers for the All-Star teams will be announced on Sunday.
In a semi-related All-Star update, last night it was revealed that Ohtani would not be participating in the Home Run Derby.
Don't expect National League HR leader Shohei Ohtani in this year's Home Run Derby
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) July 3, 2024
Dave Roberts: “I think in any other normal situation where he wasn’t rehabbing, I think he would love to participate.”https://t.co/nSJDxXgPpF pic.twitter.com/0mFfnAVQ8S
It’s a bummer, but it makes sense to not add any additional stress while he’s still rehabbing.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
