Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (82-65) were riding a four-game winning streak coming into this series against the San Francisco Giants (75-72), but disappointed in the opening game of this three game set losing 5-1 via a Patrick Bailey walk-off grand slam. Chad recapped the game last night, but the idea was that Yoshinobu Yamamoto was excellent, and the offense was bad. Clayton Kershaw will be on the mound today as the Dodgers look to get back into the win column, while Logan Webb and the Giants continue their push for the final Wild Card spot.
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| 6:05 P.M. | San Francisco | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | LF | Ramos |
| SS | Betts | 1B | Devers (L) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | SS | Adames |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | 3B | Chapman |
| RF | T. Hernández | DH | Flores |
| LF | Conforto (L) | 2B | Schmitt |
| CF | Pages | RF | Encarnacion |
| 2B | Rojas | CF | Matos |
| C | Rortvedt (L) | C | Bailey (S) |
| P | Kershaw (L) | P | Webb (R) |
The Dodgers will run out the same lineup as last night with one minor change, being Miguel Rojas starting at second base over Tommy Edman. The Dodgers had 10 hard-hit balls (95+ mph) last night compared to San Francisco’s 5, but despite the loud contact, they managed just four hits in ten innings. They’ll look to plate more than one run tonight against the Giants’ ace.
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Here’s how Webb and Kershaw have fared.
Kershaw earned his tenth win of the season his last time out against the Orioles, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk over 5.2 innings with a season-high eight strikeouts. It was his sixth win in his last seven starts, and the 13th time in his career that he’s reached double-digit wins. He’s still rarely touching 90 mph with the fastball, but the diminished velocity hasn’t impacted his ability to effectively get outs. He’ll look to put together yet another impressive performance in San Francisco, where he has a 1.69 ERA over 197.1 innings pitched. He’s been a thorn in the Giants’ side for a very long time.
Webb allowed one earned run on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over six innings his last time out against the Diamondbacks. He notched his fourth win in his last five starts, totaling 14 on the year, nearing his career high of 15 from the 2022 season. Webb will be leading baseball in innings after this start, and he’s one of just five pitchers with over 200 strikeouts thus far. His increased ability to generate whiffs has resulted in a career best strikeout rate of 26.3%, while still maintaining a fantastic groundball rate at 53.3%. Webb is arguably the steadiest pitcher in all of baseball, and has a 2.77 ERA at home this season. He’s faced the Dodgers twice this year, most recently allowing six earned runs across 5.1 innings in July.
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It’s unfortunate that Will Smith needed to be placed on the IL for his hand injury, but they will need his bat in October.
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First pitch is at 6:05 PT on SNLA.
