Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
I always say that with any series at Coors Field, the goal is to hopefully win a couple games but more importantly get out of there healthy. Unfortunately, the Dodgers might not accomplish either of those this weekend as they’ve now lost two consecutive games to the Rockies, in addition to losing Edwin Diaz for at least a significant portion of the season. Diaz never really looked right this year, and there was some talk about it being the knee he injured a couple seasons back, but after another worrisome outing yesterday, it was announced today that he will be having surgery for “loose bodies” in his elbow. He’s expected to return in the second half of the season which is great news, and luckily the Dodgers have the team and depth to sustain this kind of injury, so long as he actually returns in the second half. Despite all this, the team still has baseball games to win, and Justin Wrobleski will look to secure a series split up against the left-handed vet Jose Quintana.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:40 P.M. | Denver | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | LF | Beck |
| RF | Call | CF | Doyle |
| C | Smith | DH | Goodman |
| LF | T. Hernández | RF | Freeman |
| CF | Pages | SS | Tovar |
| SS | Rojas | 1B | Johnston (L) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | 2B | Castro (S) |
| 2B | Espinal | 3B | Karros |
| 1B | Rushing (L) | C | Sullivan (L) |
| P | Wrobleski (L) | P | Quintana (L) |
On paper this is the weakest lineup the Dodgers have rolled out so far this season, with Freddie Freeman currently away from the team, Mookie Betts injured, in addition Kyle Tucker getting a day off. It’s still quite the lineup considering it has Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Teoscar Hernández, and Max Muncy, who all trail Andy Pages (1.061 OPS) and Dalton Rushing (1.705 OPS) in OPS. Alex Call has been good in his limited playing time and has a .571 OBP in 21 plate appearances this season. Rushing will get the start at first base in the absence of Freeman, while Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinal fill out the middle infield against the left-handed Quintana.
——
Justin Wrobleski had the best outing of his young major league career his last time out against the Mets, throwing eight scoreless innings while allowing just two hits. The swing-and-miss wasn’t really there as he recorded just two strikeouts during that outing, but he limited hard contact and everything that was hit hard managed to find a glove. He has just six strikeouts in 17.0 innings so far this season, which isn’t necessarily concerning but it is interesting. His velocity is down slightly as a full-time starting pitcher, averaging 94.2 mph this season compared to 96.0 last year, but that’s a pretty reasonable drop off going from a multi-inning reliever to someone expected to throw 90 pitches every sixth day. He’s allowed just a .154 batting average on balls in play which is sure to regress toward the mean, so he’ll need to find a way to miss some bats in return. His 2.12 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 0.76 WHIP are obviously all excellent metrics, but Coors Field is a tough place to allow a lot of contact.
It feels like the Dodgers somehow face Jose Quintana multiple times per year no matter what team he eventually ends up with. They matched up against him three times last year as a member of the Brewers, twice in the regular season where he allowed five earned runs over 12.0 innings, and once in the NLCS where he allowed three earned runs across two innings in Game 4. He’s had a rough start to the season in Colorado, with a 5.63 ERA, 7.00 FIP, and a 1.88 WHIP over his first two outings, logging a total of just eight innings over those two outings. Both outings have come on the road which makes the start to his year slightly more worrisome, as there’s no Coors Field BABIP + weirdness as a caveat. He’s walked eight batters in those eight innings while logging just three strikeouts, an issue for a guy who will rely heavily on command and soft contact at this point in his career. He is however very savvy despite sitting just 90 mph now on both his four-seamer and sinker, going to his changeup and two distinct breaking balls to keep hitters off the heater. The Dodgers are a tough matchup however, and he’ll have to be better than he was in his first two outings to find success tonight.
——
In other news,
Elbow surgery can inherently only be negative, but in terms of severity this seems like the best possible outcome.
The team doesn’t urgently need Mookie to return, but positive updates are always good to see.
The Dodgers acquired Jake Eder from the Nationals in exchange for cash considerations earlier this month, and the 27 year-old lefty will be the corresponding move for Edwin Diaz going onto the IL. Eder had a 4.91 ERA across 18.1 innings with the Angels last season.
======
First pitch is at 5:40 PT on SNLA.
