Dodgers @ Phillies July 9, 2024: Bobby Miller starts the series between the top two teams in the NL

The Dodgers had a nice bounceback series against the first-place Brewers following a pair of disappointing series losses to NL West opponents. After losing two of three in San Francisco and in LA against Arizona, the Dodgers took the first two games of their series against the Brewers before getting blown out on Sunday. The blowouts have been a slightly concerning trend for the Dodgers, who have lost by six or more in each of their last four losses. Dodger pitching has been pretty cold for the last week or so, and the offense has continued to be very up and down over the last nine games.

Today, they travel to Philadelphia to open up a series against the top seed in the NL and the best record overall in baseball. The Phillies are 58-32 and their 7.5 lead over Atlanta matches the Dodgers’ lead over San Diego for the largest division leads in baseball. The Phillies have also been going through it a bit lately, as they (like the Dodgers) are 5-5 over their last 10. They’ve dropped three of four, including two of three over the weekend in Atlanta where they combined for one run in the two losses. They’ve been without Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper since June 27, but both were activated from the IL and in the lineup today. Today marks the first matchup between the two teams since last season. The Dodgers swept the Phillies in LA, but Philly took two of three at home.

	3:40 P.M.		Philadelphia
DH	Ohtani (L)	DH	Schwarber (L)
C	Smith	SS	Turner
1B	Freeman (L)	1B	Harper (L)
RF	T. Hernández	3B	Bohm
CF	Outman (L)	2B	Stott (L)
SS	Rojas	RF	Castellanos
2B	Lux (L)	LF	Marsh (L)
LF	Vargas	C	Marchan (S)
3B	Biggio (L)	CF	Rojas
P	Miller (R)	P	Wheeler (R)

Bobby Miller gets the ball to open the roadtrip. He started the first game of the homestand and pitched well enough against the Diamondbacks. He only allowed two walks over three no-hit innings, but Arizona cracked the code in the fourth. Joc Pederson led off with a single and Christian Walker followed that up with his first of 19 home runs in the three games (this stat is accurate). Miller allowed two more singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs, but was able to escape without further damage. He threw a perfect fifth and was removed after his 90th pitch, the third most he’s had in a start between the Majors and Minors this season.

Miller only struck out four Diamondbacks to continue his strikeout issues on the season. In Miller’s first start against the Cardinals, he struck out 11 in six innings. In 19 innings over five starts since then, he’s only struck out 14. He’s also walked 14 in that span and has walked three in each of his last four starts including the final one before his injury. Miller saw the Phillies once last year in Philadelphia and was excellent. It was his fourth career start and he allowed three hits and three walks over six shutout innings with seven strikeouts. The wheels came off a bit for Miller after that start last season, as he allowed 13 runs over the next two.

Zack Wheeler makes his 19th start of the season for the Phillies. Wheeler was one of a league-high seven Phillies named to the NL All-Star team, but likely will be replaced as he’s lined up to start the last game before the break. Wheeler’s been a true ace for the Phillies since joining them in 2020. Wheeler trails only teammate Aaron Nola with 741 innings thrown since joining the Phillies, and his 3.01 ERA in that time is second only behind Corbin Burnes (and his 3.25 FIP is sixth, the slacker). Wheeler’s worst season came last year, when he posted a 3.61 ERA/3.15 FIP and 1.078 WHIP over 192 innings. That was the only time he posted an ERA over 3 since leaving the Mets. Wheeler’s been excellent this year, with a 2.74 ERA/3.28 FIP and a 0.994 WHIP over 111 2/3 innings.

Wheeler’s had a couple rough starts this season. On May 12, he allowed six runs in only four innings against the Marlins, whose .632 OPS on the season is the worst in baseball. On June 16, he allowed eight runs and nine hits in only 4 1/3 innings in Baltimore. He’d allowed five homers in 14 starts before then and Baltimore took him deep four times. He hasn’t allowed a homer in three starts since. Both of those rough starts came on the road, but he’s been much better at home. He has a 1.76 ERA and is allowing a .460 OPS against in 10 starts in Philly. The Dodgers managed to miss Wheeler last season and haven’t seen him since early 2022. They scored three runs over 5 1/3 innings off Wheeler in a game the Phillies eventually won 9-7. In six career starts against LA, Wheeler has a 4.72 ERA but has struck out 40 in only 32 1/3 innings.

Wheeler has a six-pitch mix, but throws a four-seamer 41.6 percent of the time. He’s thrown a sinker 19 percent, sweeper 11.5 percent, cutter 10 percent and has mixed in a curve (9.9 percent) and splitter (8.2 percent).

Miguel Vargas gets another start in left with Teoscar Hernandez sliding over to right and James Outman in center. Cavan Biggio gets his first start since June 29 with Chris Taylor on the bench to begin tonight’s game.

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The Dodgers did make a move with their pitching staff, but probably not the one that was expected. Michael Petersen is back, which was only possible with an IL stint as he was recently optioned. That injury ended up being Tyler Glasnow.

The Dodgers rotation has suffered another injury

Tyler Glasnow is going on the IL because of back tightness, Dave Roberts said. It flared up on Glasnow during catch play Sunday

Team’s initial hope is it’s a minor issue. Roberts said Glasnow could be back shortly after ASB

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) July 9, 2024

Glasnow had some back tightness and was placed on the IL. This could be a good thing as he’s already only 11 innings short of his career-high in the regular season, so as long as the injury is minor it could be good to get him a breather before the home stretch of the season. Justin Wrobleski is still with the team and would be on normal rest on Friday, when Glasnow was lined up to start the series in Detroit.

Glasnow’s injury will keep him out of the All-Star Game, and Hunter Greene was named as his replacement.

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First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA and TBS.