Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (42-35) secured the series opener win against the Cubs (42-34) on Monday night thanks to seven shutout innings from Kenta Maeda and two dongs by Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor. Now they turn to Ross Stripling (6-2, 1.99 ERA, 2.47 FIP) in game two of four Tuesday evening.
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Cubs
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Dodgers
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7:10 PM
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Los Angeles
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2B
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Zobrist |
SS
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Hernandez | |
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RF
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Heyward |
3B
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Turner | |
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3B
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Baez |
LF
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Kemp | |
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1B
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Rizzo |
1B
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Muncy | |
| C | Contreras |
2B
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Forsythe | |
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LF
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Schwarber |
CF
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Bellinger | |
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CF
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Happ | RF | Puig | |
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SS
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Russell |
C
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Barnes | |
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P
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Lester (L) |
P
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Stripling
(R)
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Stripling had one of his worst starts of the year against the Cubs at Wrigley Field last week, and it wasn’t even that bad. He allowed three runs over six innings, struck out seven and walked none on 84 pitches. Stripling’s name has been discussed as a longshot for an All-Star nod, and tonight’s start could make or break his chances.
Stripling leads active Dodger starters in ERA (1.99), K/9 (10.6), and a 7.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Although Chicken Strip’s short of qualifying right now, he’s right behind Jacob deGrom in ERA and seventh in the NL in K/9 among NL starters with at least 50 innings pitched. He’s been dominant at home, going 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in 10 games (5 starts).
Ross the Boss will have to be careful pitching to pesky Javier Baez who has three doubles in three at-bats against him. Baez is starting at third base and batting third in Joe Maddon‘s lineup tonight. The Cubs placed Kris Bryant (shoulder) on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday.
Jon Lester (9-2, 2.10 ERA, 4.19 FIP), who will counter Stripling for the rematch, wasn’t sharp at all in his start against the Dodgers last Wednesday. He actually pitched worse than Stripling but still managed to shut out the Dodgers over seven innings on 119 pitches. It was a frustrating game, because the Dodgers had a lot of hard hit balls and deep fly balls. Wrigley ultimately did them in.
Kiké Hernandez now has a career-high 13 home runs on the year. He’s 5-for-20 (.250) against Lester with a triple and two home runs. He’s 4-for-7 (.429) with two home runs in two starts in the leadoff spot this season.
Overall, the Dodgers are hitting .234/.319/.413 with 29 home runs against left-handed pitching this year. That’s 10th in the league.
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Tony Cingrani (left rotator cuff strain) and Pedro Baez (right biceps tendinitis) played catch today. Walker Buehler (right rib microfracture) threw a bullpen session.
Buehler seemed to be maximum effort with no restrictions. Baez, not so much.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 26, 2018
Walker Buehler threw a bullpen session today and will throw another Thursday. It sounds like he’ll then need to make one rehab start before returning to the major leagues.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) June 26, 2018
Old friend alert:
Scott Van Slyke heads overseas to the Korea Baseball Organization:https://t.co/KvSRNazJnB#KBO pic.twitter.com/UX7mNvZgHP
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) June 26, 2018
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The Dodgers go for their fifth straight win, but the Cubs will try to avoid their sixth straight loss. The Arizona D-backs lost yesterday, so the Dodgers now sit 1 1/2 games back in the NL West. The Cubs are 2 1/2 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. With the 2-1 win over the Cubs yesterday, the Dodgers also moved into the second Wild Card position in the NL. Let’s get wild.
