Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers suffered one of their most embarrassing all-around losses on Sunday, as a 10-2 loss was almost overshadowed by idiot fans throwing shit on the field and at/towards Jurickson Profar and a ball-throwing controversy. As bad as all of that felt, it’s still just one loss and the best-of-five series now becomes a best-of-three, with the Padres having home field advantage with the next two games in San Diego. The Padres won four of the five games against the Dodgers in San Diego with two of those wins coming via walkoffs. The lone Dodger win in San Diego this season came on May 11, when James Paxton threw six shutout. Today, the Dodgers look to take control of the series and actually get a chance to bat without being down in the first inning.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:08 P.M. | San Diego | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 1B | Arraez (L) |
| RF | Betts | RF | Tatis Jr. |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Profar (S) |
| LF | T. Hernández | 3B | Machado |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | CF | Merrill (L) |
| C | Smith | SS | Bogaerts |
| 2B | Lux (L) | DH | Peralta (L) |
| CF | Edman (S) | 2B | Cronenworth (L) |
| SS | Rojas | C | Higashioka |
| P | Buehler (R) | P | King (R) |
Walker Buehler gets his chance to further cement his reputation as a big game pitcher tonight. It was a rough year overall for Buehler, who returned from a nearly two-year absence with a 5.38 ERA/5.54 FIP in 16 starts. Buehler’s last start would definitely qualify as a “big game”, as he started the Dodgers’ home finale and rubber match against the Padres with a chance to clinch the NL West at home. It was a weird start for Buehler, who was effective (five innings, one run, 71 pitches) but only struck out one Padre. They put 18 balls in play off Buehler, eight of which were hit over 95 MPH. He wasn’t really fooling anyone (only three swinging strikes), but kept the Padres in the park and gave the Dodgers five quality innings. It was much better than his other start against the Padres back in May in San Diego, when he allowed three runs and two homers in 3 1/3 innings. Buehler’s thrown 79 2/3 innings in the postseason and has mostly been excellent with a 2.94 ERA/3.16 FIP and .623 OPS against. He hasn’t pitched in October since 2021 due to injury, but his 2021 postseason was a bit rough. He only completed five or more innings once in four starts and allowed 10 runs and three homers in 18 1/3 innings. He started the final Dodger game that season, allowing four runs in four innings in a 4-2 Atlanta win that sent the Braves to the World Series.
Michael King starts for the Padres coming off an excellent start in the Wild Card round against Atlanta. King struck out 12 over seven shutout innings, with only five hits allowed. He’s yet to allow a run in his postseason career (only two postseason innings thrown before that start last week) and hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last two starts. His final tune-up of the regular season came in LA and he allowed an unearned run in the first inning, but held the Dodgers down through five. The Dodgers forced him to throw 95 pitches to get through five as he labored through the first two innings, but he did a good job limiting the damage. King was pretty dominant in the second half of the season and has seemingly continued that into the playoffs. He only allowed 18 earned runs (27 overall) over his final 14 starts and struck out 92 with 25 walks in 80 innings. He only failed to complete five innings once in that stretch and only allowed four homers over that time.
King was the best pitcher at limiting hard contact this season. His 85.7 MPH average exit velocity and 30.3 percent hard-hit rate were both among the lowest of any starter this season (lowest average exit velo, second-lowest hard-hit rate after Blake Snell). He threw a sinker 27.9 percent, changeup 24.6 percent, four-seamer 24.1 percent, a sweeper 17.8 percent and a slider 5.6 percent of the time. He threw his changeup more than he ever had this season and posted a 36.2 percent whiff rate with it and opponents only hit .207 with a .286 slugging percentage off it.
Freddie Freeman is in the lineup tonight after leaving Game 2 early with an aggravated ankle. David Peralta gets the start at DH again for the Padres, with Luis Arraez starting at first.
——
The Dodgers made a bullpen move, activating Ben Casparius as an injury replacement for Michael Grove.
MLB announces that Ben Casparius is replacing Michael Grove on the Dodgers NLDS roster as an injury replacement
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) October 8, 2024
Grove would be ineligible for the NLCS if the Dodgers advance. He threw 11 pitches on Sunday and allowed one of the six Padre homers before recording the final out of the eighth. He reportedly has a shoulder issue and will be getting scans. Casparius gives the Dodgers another length option should Buehler struggle and a potential starter/piggyback option with Landon Knack for tomorrow. Casparius fared well in three Major League outings (with a grain of salt as two of them came against the Rockies). He totaled 8 1/3 innings and allowed two earned runs with 12 strikeouts.
——
Dustin wrote some words on BallGate earlier, check those out. They pretty much echo my sentiments. Machado is annoying, this wasn’t worth spending any time and energy on when they’re two losses away from another NLDS exit.
——
First pitch is scheduled for 6:08 PM PT and will be shown on FS1.
