Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers handled their business over the weekend, as Atlanta came to LA with the best winning percentage in baseball and left with the sixth best after a Dodger sweep. They outscored Atlanta 20-6 over the three games and have now won 11 of the last 13.
Today, the Dodgers look to continue their hot streak as they open a three-game set against one of the worst teams in baseball. The Marlins are 10-26, good for the third worst record in baseball only ahead of Colorado and the White Sox. They recently dropped seven in a row, but bounced back by sweeping the Rockies before losing two of three in Oakland over the weekend. They’ve also already shifted into sell mode, as they traded Luis Arraez to the Padres on Saturday.
The Dodgers and Marlins split six weird games last season. In LA, Miami blew out the Dodgers in the series opener in what would be Tony Gonsolin‘s final start before Tommy John. The next two games happened on Saturday, as the Dodgers moved the Sunday game to Saturday in anticipation of a hurricane in LA (climate is doing great). The Dodgers won both of those games 3-1. A month later, the Marlins took two of three in Miami. While they lost a pitcher to Tommy John against the Marlins last season, they get one back from Tommy John tonight.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Chisholm Jr. (L) | SS | Betts |
| DH | De La Cruz | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 3B | Burger | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Bell (S) | C | Smith |
| RF | Sanchez (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| SS | Anderson | LF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Gordon (L) | RF | Pages |
| 2B | Brujan (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| C | Fortes | CF | Outman (L) |
| P | Muñoz (R) | P | Buehler (R) |
Walker Buehler makes his first professional start since June 10, 2022. Remember when he was like “I’m aiming to be back in September”? He missed that deadline, as he made one rehab start in 2023 and was shut down after that. There was hope he’d be ready for Spring Training, but he missed the entire Spring. He made his first rehab start on March 31 and has started every sixth day since. Buehler made six rehab starts and totaled 21 2/3 innings, which might factor in to how many starts he’s given at the Major League level. He only threw 65 innings in 2022, so it’s tough to see him starting every fifth/sixth day for the rest of the season. Buehler’s final rehab start was his best, as he needed 75 pitches to complete five innings and he allowed one run and seven hits. He’d thrown 86 pitches (over four innings) in his previous rehab start. His fastball reportedly topped out at 94.6 MPH during his rehab, which is a dropoff from the 95.2 average velo in 2022. That velocity was also a dropoff from his range of 96.2 to 96.8 MPH averages between 2018 and 2020. He might not be that same power pitcher, but it’ll be good to see him back on the mound (especially entering his walk year). He’s expected to be good for 80-85 pitches tonight.
Roddery Muñoz makes his third career start tonight. He made his Major League debut on April 20, a week after his 24th birthday. He pitched five innings against the Cubs and allowed only two hits and a walk. Unfortunately for him, both hits were solo homers and the Cubs won that game 5-3. He made another start against the Rockies on May 1 and held them to a run and three hits over six innings for his first career win. He struck out seven batters in both of his starts and has thrown a strike 65 percent of the time so far. It’s been a pretty strong start for a guy that wasn’t listed on the Marlins top prospects list on MLB Pipeline and allowed 15 runs over 15 2/3 innings in AAA this season.
Very limited Savant data for Munoz, but he’s thrown some sort of fastball around 80 percent of the time in his two starts. He’s thrown a cutter 34.6 percent of the time, sinker 24.5 of the time and four seamer 21.4 percent of the time. He’s only allowed three hits on those three pitches and has yet to allow a hit on his curveball, which he’s thrown 10.1 percent of the time. He’s thrown a changeup 9.4 percent of the time, and that’s been where he’s gotten in trouble. He’s thrown it seven times to righties and eight times to lefties, and has allowed a homer to a batter on each side of the plate.
A mostly normal lineup for the Dodgers, but Gavin Lux hits eighth and James Outman hits ninth for the first time this season. Jake Burger returns from an oblique injury to hit third for Miami tonight after dominating the Dodgers last season. In nine games against LA last season, Burger slashed .303/.395/.758 with five homers.
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The move for Buehler’s activation is Joe Kelly going on the IL with shoulder issues.
The Dodgers activated RHP Walker Buehler off the injured list and placed RHP Joe Kelly on the injured list with right posterior shoulder strain.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 7, 2024
Not ideal.
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Important.
Yessir ? https://t.co/xsrC9w1vHZ
— DJ of The Los Angeles Dodgers (@djsevere) May 7, 2024
I literally could not breathe for five seconds after hearing “certified lover boy/certified pedophile” over the weekend. I wish I was joking.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
