Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (68-53) were coming off an encouraging series win this past weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays (71-51), before letting it all fall apart in yet another sweep at the hands of the Angels (59-62). They surrendered the lead of the NL West to the San Diego Padres (69-52) after having a nine game lead in the beginning of July. They enter today on a four game losing streak, while the division leading Padres are on a five game winning streak. The Dodgers will have their work cut out for them to get out of this slump they’re in, as San Diego is one of the hottest teams in the league. The team is still in a playoff position by 4.5 games over the Cincinnati Reds (64-58), but that’s not exactly a comfortable position to be in. These two teams will meet six times in their next ten games, with another series next weekend in San Diego. The division will likely be a tight race the whole way, and these upcoming six games will have a significant impact in how it all plays out. Clayton Kershaw will try and do his part and get the Dodgers off to a good start, while the left-handed Wandy Peralta will be on the mound for the Padres in place of the injured Michael King.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| RF | Tatis Jr. | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 1B | Arraez (L) | SS | Betts |
| 3B | Machado | C | Smith |
| SS | Bogaerts | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| CF | Merrill (L) | RF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Laureano | CF | Pages |
| DH | Iglesias | LF | Conforto (L) |
| 2B | Cronenworth (L) | 3B | Freeland (S) |
| C | Fermin | 2B | Rojas |
| P | Peralta (L) | P | Kershaw (L) |
The Dodgers’ offense has scored 33 runs over their last six games which is more like the team we’re used to seeing, but they’ve still been unable to break things open when the opportunity presents itself. During their four-game losing streak, three were one run games where the offense had ample opportunities to put up more runs. They’re without Max Muncy now, and the rest of the guys will really need to pick up the slack and figure it out now. The aforementioned Muncy will be out for at least two or three weeks with an oblique strain, which particularly hurts as since returning from the IL, he had an OPS of 1.401 in eight games.
All of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Luis Arraez, Jake Cronenworth, Jose Iglesias, and Jackson Merrill have been above average offensively since the All-Star Break. Additionally, two of their deadline acquisitions in Ramon Laureano (1.000 OPS) and Freddy Fermin (.878 OPS) have been excellent since joining San Diego. For the Dodgers (excluding Muncy), only Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernández have been above average since the All-Star break.
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Kershaw allowed just one run on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts across six innings his last time out against the Blue Jays. It was a great outing despite some hard contact, and although he rarely touches 90 mph, he now has a 3.14 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over 71.2 innings pitched. Every week I’m surprised with his ability to perform with the reality of where his stuff is at this point in his career. This will be his first time facing the Padres this season, which is quite the ask considering how they’ve been playing as of late.
King was slated to start today but was placed on the 15-day IL due to knee inflammation, while the right-handed Randy Vásquez was recalled from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Vasquez had a 3.93 ERA over 107.2 innings pitched this season, despite a staggering 55 strikeouts to 48 walks in over 100 innings. Wandy Peralta will be opening for San Diego, but hasn’t thrown more than two innings in a single outing this year, so he’ll just be in there to get as many outs as he can before the Padres likely go to Vasquez.
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Just a brutal loss for an offense that has been relying on him. The Dodgers claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy as they’re likely to need help in the infield with all of Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, and Kiké Hernández injured. Miguel Rojas isn’t an everyday player at this stage of his career, and Alex Freeland hasn’t fully adjusted to major league pitching yet.
Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Brock Stewart, and Michael Kopech are all very likely to help alleviate the current issues with the Dodgers’ bullpen. It’s good to see they’re all progressing in some capacity.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PT on SNLA and MLB Network.
