Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start last night prior to the game, leading to an impromptu bullpen game that resulted in a 9-3 loss in the series opener. Eduardo Rodriguez allowed just two earned runs over six innings, while the seven Dodger pitchers combined for nine earned runs on nine hits and five walks. The Dodgers (61-34) played sloppily and also made three errors, while the Diamondbacks (47-47) simply looked sharper. Second time All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be on the mound looking to even the series, up against Brandon Pfaadt who recently rejoined Arizona’s rotation after a month in Triple-A.
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| 6:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 2B | Marte (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| SS | Perdomo (S) | CF | Pages |
| RF | Carroll (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Moreno | SS | Betts |
| LF | Kepler (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 1B | Tawa | RF | Tucker (L) |
| 3B | Arenado | LF | T. Hernández |
| C | McCann | C | Rushing (L) |
| CF | Troy | 2B | Edman (S) |
| P | Pfaadt (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
Arizona shifts things around a bit, with Gabriel Moreno at DH tonight while James McCann gets the start behind the plate. Tommy Troy starts in center field over Ryan Waldschmidt, and PED user Max Kepler starts in left field.
The Dodgers will also run out a similar lineup, but Miguel Rojas will be out of the lineup against the right-handed Pfaadt, while Max Muncy starts at third and Tommy Edman shifts over to second base.
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Here’s how Yamamoto and Pfaadt have fared this season.
Yamamoto had a slow start to the year for his standards, with a 3.60 ERA through his first eight starts, including a five run outing against the Giants on May 12. Since then however he’s more than earned his All-Star selection, with a 1.48 ERA over his last eight starts and 54.2 innings. He’s 6-2 in those starts and has seven quality starts out of his eight outings, allowed just a .163 batting average, flirted with a no-hitter, and has been an absolute anchor at the front of this rotation. Just a dominant stretch from one of the best in the game finding his stride. He’s coming off of a seven scoreless inning outing against San Diego, where he allowed just three hits and two walks with ten strikeouts, and he’ll look to bring that form into his final start of the first half.
Pfaadt is back in the Arizona starting rotation after nearly a month in Triple-A Reno, and has made three appearances and two starts since being recalled at the end of June. He was brought back due to compiling injuries in the rotation, and has been great in his two most recent starts, allowing just one earned run across 10.1 innings. Most recently he earned the win against the Padres, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing just four hits. He faced the Dodgers just once this season in a relief appearance, where he allowed two earned runs in one inning on three hits and two walks.
He sits in the mid-to-low-90’s with a four seamer and a sinker as his primary pitches, while additionally mixing in a curveball, sweeper, cutter, and a changeup. It feels like he’s shown flashes of being a good major league starter, but the 27 year-old now has 502.2 innings under his belt with a 5.10 ERA and a 4.25 FIP….and maybe that’s just kind of what he is? Anyway, prepare for a complete game shutout.
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The MLB Draft started today and the Dodgers made two picks.
Due to their luxury tax situation causing the team to forfeit multiple picks for signing players with qualifying offers attached to them, the Dodgers had just two selections in today’s draft that covered the first four rounds.
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Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Edwin Díaz is quite the trio of reinforcements en route.
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First pitch is at 6:10 PT on SNLA.
