Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers got the offense going last night, as some slumping players delivered big hits and Clayton Kershaw put forth a vintage performance in a 9-0 Dodger win. Today, they can become the first team in baseball to the 50 win plateau (although Minnesota has a better winning percentage still).
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Rich Hill makes his 10th start of the season today. Hill has a 2.60 ERA through his first nine starts, despite a 4.21 FIP. Like many other Dodger starters, Hill’s success has come from his control. He currently owns a 5.6 percent walk rate, the lowest since his relief stint in Boston in 2015.
Hill has made three starts in June, and went seven innings in two of those. His only outing shorter than seven innings came in San Francisco, where he issued three walks and struck out six in five innings. He only allowed two runs in those five innings, but the Giants still made him throw 94 pitches. If there’s one area Hill’s struggling this season, it’s at keeping the ball in the park. He’s allowed 10 dongs in nine starts so far this year, including one to Aramis Garcia in his start in San Francisco.
Drew Pomeranz will be making his 13th start of the season, and it’ll be his fourth time facing the Dodgers. He faced the Dodgers at the beginning of the month, and after allowing eight runs in the start before facing the Dodgers, he shut LA out for five innings. He allowed two unearned runs in his last start against Milwaukee, so he’s still yet to allow an earned run in June.
Pomeranz was pretty solid against the Dodgers in their other two meetings. Pomeranz’s first start as a Giant came against the Dodgers, and he allowed two runs in five innings, both coming on solo homers. He started in LA at the end of April and only lasted four innings, giving up three runs in a 10-3 Dodger win. Those three runs came on a David Freese homer, so all the Dodger runs off Pomeranz this season have come via dong.
With a lefty on the mound, Joc Pederson and Max Muncy get the day off. Alex Verdugo and Cody Bellinger are the lone left-handed position players.
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The Dodgers have pushed back some of their rotation.
Julio Urias won’t piggyback Hill in this game, as he’ll start tomorrow. The Dodgers have three potential long relief options tomorrow including Urias, and the bullpen should be fresh enough today with only Dylan Floro and Joe Kelly appearing last night. Walker Buehler gets pushed back to Friday, with Hyun-Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda starting Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Extra rest is obviously more important, but this move could allow Hyun-Jin Ryu to appear in the All-Star Game. He was originally lined up to pitch the Sunday before the All-Star Break.
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The Dodgers will play a game later this season on YouTube.
It’ll be a bright and early game here on the West Coast. There will also be no blackouts, so here’s hoping it’s not as wildly annoying as the Facebook broadcasts last year.
