Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers managed to avoid a frustrating blown loss yesterday against the Pirates, as the Hernandi combined for a pair of RBI knocks in the 10th inning for a 6-5 Dodger win and to complete the sweep. The Padres actually failed to complete a ninth-inning comeback against the Marlins, so the Dodgers gained a game and now sit 3.5 ahead of them and the Diamondbacks in the NL West. The win also moved the Dodgers into a tie for the top spot in the NL with the struggling Phillies, who have lost 10 of their last 14.
Today, the Dodgers kick off a week-long NL Central road trip with the team at the top of that division, the Brewers. Milwaukee is only 1.5 games back of the Dodgers and Phillies in the NL and have been able to find success despite trading Corbin Burnes in the offseason. Their offense has been clicking lately, as they scored eight runs or more in four consecutive games against Atlanta and Cincinnati. That streak was snapped on Saturday with a 1-0 win over the Reds, and they lost their five-game win streak on Sunday with a 4-3 loss. The Brewers came to LA in early July and the Dodgers took two of three, with both wins coming late in the game. The Dodgers erased a 5-2 deficit in the opener of the series and a three-run eighth gave them an 8-5 win. In the second game, Evan Phillips allowed a Christian Yelich eighth-inning homer to tie the game, but Miguel Vargas and Shohei Ohtani homered in the bottom of the inning for a 5-3 win.
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| 5:10 P.M. | Milwaukee | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 2B | Turang (L) |
| RF | Betts | LF | Chourio |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | CF | Mitchell (L) |
| LF | T. Hernández | C | Contreras |
| 2B | Lux (L) | SS | Adames |
| C | Smith | DH | Sanchez |
| SS | Rojas | 1B | Hoskins |
| 3B | K. Hernández | RF | Frelick (L) |
| CF | Kiermaier (L) | 3B | Ortiz |
| P | Kershaw (L) | P | Peralta (R) |
Clayton Kershaw makes his fourth start back from the IL tonight. Kershaw had his best start of the season last time out against the Phillies, but failed to complete five innings as he ran into trouble in the fifth. He faced the minimum through three (kind of, the last out of the third came on the basepaths while he was facing the leadoff hitter), but allowed a couple of singles in the fourth and allowed a double, hit a batter and gave up an RBI single with two outs in the fifth. Joe Kelly stranded two to keep Kershaw with only one run on his scorecard, but thing went south fast as Brusdar Graterol lasted nine pitches before a hamstring injury landed him back on the IL. It was a nice bounceback for Kershaw, who had failed to strike out a Padre in his start before that one. Kershaw hasn’t completed five innings since he’s been back, but did max out at 83 pitches against the Padres (in only 3 2/3 innings, it was a rough one). Kershaw turned in one of his best starts of 2023 in Milwaukee in May. He allowed five hits and one run over seven innings and struck out eight without issuing a walk. Kershaw also allowed one run when he faced the Brewers in LA last August, but that was only in five innings and he only struck out two with two walks.
Freddy Peralta makes his 24th start of the season tonight. He’s having one of the worst seasons of his career, with a 4.02 ERA/3.99 FIP over 125 1/3 innings. He’s struggled in his last three starts (two of them coming against Atlanta), as he’s allowed nine runs, five homers and 17 hits in 16 1/3 innings. The Dodgers beat him in early July, as they jumped on him with a three-run first forced him to throw 104 pitches in only four innings, his second-shortest start of the season. Will Smith hasn’t homered since his first-inning homer off Peralta in that game (July 6, which is not great for Smith).
Despite his struggles this season, Peralta has still been one of the top strikeout pitchers in baseball. His 29.4 percent strikeout rate is the seventh-best among qualified pitchers, but his 8.9 percent walk rate is the 10th-highest. He’s always had troubles with walks, as last season was his only season with a walk rate less than eight percent. All four of Peralta’s offerings have over a 25 percent whiff rate (and his fastball is the only pitch under 30 percent). He uses that fastball 53.8 percent of the time and 12 of the 19 homers he’s allowed this season have come off it. He also throws a slider 24.3 percent, changeup 17.3 percent and a curve 4.5 percent of the time.
Mookie Betts is back today. He’s hitting second with Ohtani remaining as the leadoff hitter, and he’ll get his first action of the season in right field. Smith slides all the way down to sixth in the order, and Kevin Kiermaier hits ninth and starts in center.
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In a surprising move, Amed Rosario was DFA’d to make room for Betts.
Amed Rosario was designated for assignment.
— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) August 12, 2024
Mookie Betts is back on the #Dodgers roster.
They traded for Rosario before the deadline and he’s posted a .746 OPS this season (.816 against lefties), but he was the odd man out for Betts. He wasn’t getting much playing time and his defense isn’t strong, but it feels odd to make this move at this point. Nick Ahmed survives for now, but with Max Muncy and Tommy Edman both on rehab assignments and potentially back next week, he might not last long. Both of those activations would require 40-man moves as they’re both on the 60-day IL while Betts was not, so they do have an extra 40-man spot for now.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
