Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Following last night’s slugfest, tonight’s game will feature a pair of starters who specialize in inducing ground balls. It’ll be Brandon McCarthy (3.14 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 3.58 DRA) against 23-year-old righty Robert Gsellman (5.50 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 6.20 DRA), an L.A. native (and my former schoolmate — go Comets!).
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Mets
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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CF
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Conforto |
2B
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Forsythe | |
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SS
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Reyes |
SS
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Seager | |
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LF
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Céspedes |
3B
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Turner | |
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RF
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Bruce |
1B
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Bellinger | |
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1B
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Duda |
LF
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Taylor | |
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3B
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T. Rivera |
C
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Grandal | |
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C
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R. Rivera | RF | Puig | |
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2B
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Cecchini |
CF
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Pederson | |
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P
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Gsellman (R) |
P
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McCarthy (R) |
McCarthy is making his 12th start of the year for the Dodgers. He’s been having a somewhat weird June. The overall results look pretty good: five earned runs in 16.1 IP across three starts. But one of those starts lasted just four innings, and in his most recent start, he didn’t strike out anyone in 5.1 IP.
Gsellman, who was a 13th-round draft pick in 2011, made his big league debut last August. He had a strong couple of months in 2016, putting up a 2.42 ERA in 44.2 IP. However, he’s struggled in 2017, bouncing around between the starting rotation and the bullpen (although assortment of injuries helped him to pretty quickly regain his starting role). Gsellman relies heavily on his sinker, which he throws at about 94 MPH. His secondary pitch is his fastball, which averages around the same. His pitch mix also includes a slider, a curveball, and a change up.
Per Marc Carig, this isn’t the first time Gsellman has pitched at Dodger Stadium:
Gsellman last pitched at Dodger Stadium in 2009. As a sophomore, he tossed a shutout to lead Westchester to the Division II Los Angeles city championship. “I pitched here in high school,” said Gsellman, who was later chosen by the Mets in the 13th round of the 2011 draft. “But that doesn’t count.”
It will, though, be the first time he’s pitched in front of his grandmother at a professional.
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Barring an emergency, we won’t be seeing Chris Hatcher tonight:
Roberts said Hatcher is the only pitcher down/unavailable tonight. He threw 40 pitches last night.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) June 21, 2017
Looking ahead, Gsellman won’t be the only L.A.-area-born pitcher making his Dodger Stadium debut this series:
Southern California native Tyler Pill is headed to Los Angeles. Appears he’s your starter on Wednesday against the Dodgers.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) June 20, 2017
Tyler Pill, a Covina High School grad who played baseball for three seasons at Cal State Fullerton, debuted in May, making two starts and two relief appearances before being optioned back to Triple-A Las Vegas.
