Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (56-37) dropped yet another game last night against the Brewers (52-40), this time by a final score of 3-1. They couldn’t muster any offense after Shohei Ohtani‘s leadoff homer, and looked lifeless at the plate once again. It was their fifth consecutive loss, marking their worst stretch since 5/21-5/26 last year. They’ve scored just eight runs over the last five games, including four games in which they’ve been held to just one run. The margin of losses doesn’t ultimately matter anywhere besides run differential, but they’ve been outscored 41-8 over these past five losses. Tyler Glasnow makes his long-awaited return today, hoping to provide a start strong enough to stop the bleeding. The left-handed veteran, Jose Quintana, will be making his 13th start of the year, aiming to lead Milwaukee toward a sweep.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 11:10 AM | Milwaukee | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | RF | Frelick (L) |
| SS | Betts | C | Contreras |
| C | Smith | CF | Chourio |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | DH | Yelich (L) |
| RF | Pages | LF | Collins (S) |
| 2B | Edman (S) | 2B | Turang (L) |
| 3B | Rojas | 3B | Durbin |
| LF | Ruiz | 1B | Bauers (L) |
| CF | Outman (L) | SS | Ortiz |
| P | Glasnow (R) | P | Quintana (L) |
Nothing promising to say about the offense right now, as they look like they need a break. Good news there is that the All-Star break is right around the corner, with just four games remaining until then. Tommy Edman is back in the lineup, while Teoscar Hernández will likely be back in the lineup on Friday. Milwaukee didn’t exactly put together a masterclass on offense yesterday, but if you can put up two runs right now, it’s good enough to beat the Dodgers.
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Glasnow makes his return this morning after missing just over two months with shoulder inflammation, hoping, praying, and dreaming of making it through the remainder of the year, in addition to October. He had mixed results to start to the year, as he had a few strange outings early this season. He had the start in Philadelphia where he couldn’t control the ball in the rain and the grounds & umpiring crews wouldn’t delay the game. He also had the game in Texas where he was cruising and left with some sort of lower body cramps, and finally the outing against the Pirates where the shoulder flared up and he left the game. I wouldn’t put too much stock in his early season results, and instead hope that he stays healthy and consistent moving forward.
Last year before he went down with an elbow issue, he had a 3.49 ERA, but elite underlying metrics more indicative of his true ability. He was top five among all starters in FIP (2.90), xFIP (2.68), SIERA (2.90), xERA (2.65), WHIP (0.95), and strikeout minus walk rate (25.5%). The only other guys with him in those categories were Tarik Skubal, Chris Sale, Paul Skenes, Zack Wheeler, and Garrett Crochet. He threw 78 pitches his last time out in OKC, so he’s likely targeting around 80 pitches today.
Jose Quintana had an excellent start to his season with Milwaukee, racking up wins in each of his first four starts, before going down with a left shoulder impingement in early May. Overall he has a 3.44 ERA, 4.42 FIP, and a 1.39 WHIP with his season split into two parts separated by the aforementioned stint on the injured list. He missed nearly three weeks, but has been decent since returning, with a 4.31 ERA and a 4.26 FIP over 31.1 innings. An issue he’s had appear since his return however, is the walks he’s allowing. He’s walked 16 batters with just 20 strikeouts across those 31.1 innings, leading to a 1.56 WHIP. You can only get away with results like that for so long, and in theory that’s a good matchup for the Dodgers. Funny enough, he’s been fantastic against the Dodgers over his career, with a 2.04 ERA in 13 games across 61.2 innings. However, he last faced them in Game 4 of the NLCS, in which he allowed five earned runs over 3.1 innings allowing four walks and five hits with just two strikeouts.
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Unfortunate, but understandable. Hopefully Michael Kopech is ready to return in early September and be a powerful arm out of the bullpen down the stretch like he was last year.
Good news for both of the Blakes at least.
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First pitch is at 11:10 a.m. PT on SNLA and MLB Network.
