Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers handled business again over the weekend, taking two of three against the Rays capped off with a 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon. The Dodgers have won five of six on this homestand and have won 12 of their last 16 overall to propel them to the best record in baseball, but still only find themselves three games up in the division over the Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers head to Arizona for a four-game set during this long weekend, but have a tough series against Baltimore to get through first. The Orioles are 76-56, two games back of the Yankees in the AL East and 2.5 games back of the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. They’re a game under .500 in August and haven’t had a winning or losing streak of more than two games since July 21-24. They split a four-game series over the weekend against the Astros, losing the first and last games but taking the middle two. The Dodgers took two of three in Baltimore last July, but this is the first time they’ve traveled to LA since 2016. They took two of three from LA in 2016, somehow surviving the Dodgers’ finale outfield of Howie Kendrick, Trayce Thompson and Scott Van Slyke (does anyone else have zero recollection of Louis Coleman, who allegedly appeared in 63 games for the 2016 Dodgers).
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Cowser (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| C | Rutschman (S) | RF | Betts |
| SS | Henderson (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| RF | Santander (S) | C | Smith |
| 1B | O’ Hearn (L) | CF | Edman (S) |
| DH | Jimenez | SS | Rojas |
| CF | Mullins (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 2B | Holliday (L) | 1B | K. Hernández |
| 3B | Urias | 2B | Taylor |
| P | Irvin (L) | P | Flaherty (R) |
Jack Flaherty makes his fifth start for the Dodgers. He bounced back from a pair of rough starts with a solid outing against the Mariners on Wednesday, allowing five hits and two runs (one unearned) in 5 2/3 innings. He forced what should have been the final out of the sixth inning, but Gavin Lux made an error and loaded the bases to force Flaherty out of the game. Anthony Banda came on in relief and walked his first batter to score that unearned run, but he got a strikeout to limit the damage. Flaherty should be pretty familiar with the Orioles, as they traded for him at the deadline last season. He made seven starts and struggled pretty badly, with a 7.11 ERA and .893 OPS against in only 31 2/3 innings. He was moved to the bullpen at the end of the year and allowed a run and five hits in three innings over two outings in the regular season. Flaherty also appeared out of the bullpen in the ALDS and allowed a run in two innings of Game 2 in a series the Rangers would sweep.
Anaheim native Cole Irvin gets the ball for Baltimore. He’s had a rough season so far, with a 4.82 ERA/4.61 FIP in 99 innings over 22 appearances (15 starts). He got moved to the bullpen in July and allowed 14 runs in 14 innings across five appearances and was DFA’d at the end of the month. He got through waivers and was sent down to the minors for a few weeks before returning Wednesday against the Mets. He did fare better in New York, allowing two runs in 4 1/3 innings. He’s faced the Dodgers twice in his career, both in relief. As a rookie in Philly, Irvin allowed two runs and four hits in 3 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. Last season, Irvin allowed two runs and four hits in four innings as an Oriole. Irvin’s been tough on lefties, with a .496 OPS allowed in 97 plate appearances. Against righties, he’s allowed a .916 OPS.
The only red on Irvin’s Savant page is his walk rate, which is quite strong. Among pitchers with over 90 innings pitched this season, only 13 of them have a better walk rate than Irvin’s 5.3 percent. Unfortunately, only three pitchers have a lower strikeout rate than Irvin’s 15.6 percent. He’s never been a high strikeout guy (his 20.2 percent last season was a career-high). Irvin also has the 15th-worst hard hit rate (42.1 percent), the highest percentage of barrels allowed (12.6 percent), and the second-worst whiff rate in baseball (16.8 percent). Feels like a recipe for six shutout tonight. Irvin throws a five-pitch mix with a four-seamer (28.4 percent), curve (24.9 percent), sinker (17.8 percent), change (13.7 percent) and cutter (10.9 percent). He’s also brought his slider back, throwing it 4.3 percent of the time after not throwing one in the last two seasons.
Freddie Freeman is out of the lineup and might not be in there for a few days (more on that in a bit). Enrique Hernandez starts at first and Chris Taylor gets the start at second over Lux.
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Speaking of, aFreeman update.
Dave Roberts said that the Dodgers are giving Freddie Freeman a chance to get his finger to “calm down.” But there are no discussions right now to put him on the IL. https://t.co/3K8gnraIcF
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) August 27, 2024
He might get a couple days to rest his finger, but should be able to avoid the IL. The Roberts-to-DoDi translator says this means that he’ll be out of the lineup for six days and then go on the IL. Freeman’s only 3-for-23 with two walks since the homestand began and he returned to the lineup. It could be his hairline fracture, it could be facing some very good Seattle and Tampa pitching. Little column A, little column B.
Austin Barnes took some swings today and should return this week.
Dave Roberts said the plan is to activate Austin Barnes on Thursday, his first day eligible to return from the IL
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) August 27, 2024
He’s expected back Thursday, which is when he’s eligible to come off the IL. Hunter Feduccia made his first start on Sunday and reached base twice, with a walk and his first career hit.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
