Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (75-52) won the second game of this three game series against the Mariners (64-63) last night by a score of 6-3. It was their third consecutive win, second consecutive series win, and fourth win in their last five games. The Padres (72-55) and Diamondbacks (71-56) are putting the pressure on, but the Dodgers are playing quite well and doing everything they need to do to hold their position in the NL West. They now own the best record in baseball by a game, and have a three game lead over San Diego and four over Arizona. The Mariners will send out Logan Gilbert, one of the best starters in baseball, against Jack Flaherty who can hold his own in that conversation.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Raley (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | Rodríguez | RF | Betts |
| C | Raleigh (S) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| LF | Arozarena | LF | T. Hernández |
| 2B | Polanco (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| 1B | Turner | C | Smith |
| RF | Canzone (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 3B | Rojas (L) | SS | Edman (S) |
| SS | Rivas (S) | CF | Kiermaier (L) |
| P | Gilbert (R) | P | Flaherty (R) |
This lineup was originally going to feature Tommy Edman in CF with Miguel Rojas at SS, but Rojas was scratched after the lineup was submitted, with Edman starting at SS and Kevin Kiermaier in center.
Jason Heyward hasn’t been as good this season as he was last year, but he once again came through in the clutch last night with a pinch-hit three run homer. He’s now 4-8 as a pinch-hitter this year with a grand slam and last night’s three run shot. Gavin Lux continued his torrid second half, starting the scoring off with a solo shot in the fourth inning. He’s now hitting .254 with a .713 OPS and 101 wRC+, staggering marks from where he was earlier in the year. He slashed .211/.267/.295 in the first half, a .562 OPS and 60 wRC+ over 77 games. In the second half, he’s slashing .361/.427/.680 for an 1.108 OPS and 205 wRC+ in 30 games. Max Muncy went 1-2 last night with a solo homer, two walks and two runs scored. In typical Muncy fashion, he’s 2-6 with two home runs and two walks since his return from the Injured List. Edman added a leadoff double to open the bottom of the seventh inning, eventually scoring the tying run on a Mookie Betts double. He also made a ridiculous play at shortstop in the fifth inning, showcasing his value on both sides of the ball.
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Here’s how Flaherty and Gilbert compare among 75 starting pitchers with at least 120 innings pitched. Everything indicates that these two are among the best in the league this year.
Gilbert took the loss his last time out, giving up three earned runs on five hits and two walks over 6.1 innings with six strikeouts. It was his third consecutive quality start and incredibly his MLB-leading 20th of the year. He has a 1.86 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP over 19.1 innings in August, with his prior start being seven shutout innings against the Mets. He’s third in baseball in innings at 161.0 over 25 starts, with a 2.96 ERA, 3.28 FIP, and the lowest WHIP in baseball at 0.88. Despite all that, he has a record of 7-9 which really tells you about the 2024 Seattle Mariners.
He sits in the upper-90’s with his four-seam fastball, with an upper-80’s slider as his main breaking ball. Both are great pitches, but his mid-80’s splitter is his wipeout pitch with a staggering 48.1% whiff-rate and a .108 batting average allowed. He also throws a curveball and a cutter, rounding out a strong five-pitch mix.
Flaherty allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over five innings his last time out in Milwaukee. He gave up all three runs in the first inning on a double and two homers, but settled in after that. He still had his swing and miss stuff working well, recording at least 15 whiffs and seven strikeouts for his third consecutive outing. He has a .350 BABIP against him in his three starts as a Dodger, as well as a 23.5% home run to fly ball ratio, more than double the league-average of 11.6%. Because of this, his expected FIP (xFIP) of 2.54 with the Dodgers is right in line with where it was in Detroit (2.59), resulting in the third lowest mark in all of baseball. He has 24 strikeouts to four walks in 16.2 innings through his three outings with the team, and will look to come out of the gates a little sharper tonight.
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Reportedly, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was up to 96 MPH in his two innings of work today in a sim game. Just one more three-inning sim game to go before a rehab assignment. Continuing to progress well.
Makes sense that they’ll play it cautious with Tyler Glasnow. He’s their ace, and they just need him at 100% in October.
Seems that Rojas should be fine and will be back in the lineup for this weekend series against the Rays.
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First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. on SNLA and MLB Network.
