Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Hopefully the Dodgers saved some runs for tonight. Walker Buehler turned in a pretty terrible outing last night, but it didn’t really matter as the Dodgers scored 16 runs to win their 90th game of the season and shrink the magic number to six. Tonight, the Dodgers look for their third straight win and to shrink that number even smaller.
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Rockies
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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SS
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Story |
2B
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Lux | |
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RF
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Blackmon |
SS
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Seager | |
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3B
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Arenado |
3B
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Turner | |
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1B
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Murphy |
CF
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Bellinger | |
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LF
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Desmond |
LF
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Pollock | |
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2B
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McMahon |
1B
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Beaty | |
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CF
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Hampson | RF | Hernández | |
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C
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Wolters |
C
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Martin | |
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P
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Gonzalez (R) |
P
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Urias (L) |
Julio Urias was activated before yesterday’s game, and instead of returning to the bullpen he’s back in the rotation. He was activated off the suspended list after receiving 15 games for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. He’ll be eligible to pitch in the playoffs, so today is a bit of an audition for him in the fourth starter role. Whoever does start game four will likely not be expected to go deep into the game, and the Dodgers have plenty of length to piggyback off that. Urias is expected to throw about 45 pitches today.
Urias was moved from the rotation on April 18th, but made two short spot starts while technically a member of the bullpen. In total he’s started six games and finished six games this season out of 27 total appearances. He owns a 2.53 ERA and a 1.049 WHIP for the season, but struggled a bit in the outings before his suspension. He allowed five earned runs (and two unearned) in 11 2/3 innings across five outings before his final outing on August 16th.
Urias has seen the Rockies three times this season. He’s allowed five earned runs (and one unearned) in 9 2/3 innings against the Rockies in 2019 and struck out nine with six walks issued. Each of those outings came in Colorado, so perhaps being away from that stupid stadium will help him out a bit.
The Rockies send out Chi Chi Gonzalez today to try to slow down the Dodger bats. Like many Rockie pitchers, Gonzalez has struggled mightily in 2019. In 35 2/3 innings (nine outings, eight starts), Gonzalez owns an 8.07 ERA/7.31 FIP and a 1.822 WHIP. He’s issued more walks (22) than strikeouts (20), which doesn’t figure to play well against this Dodger lineup. Gonzalez’s ERA is a bit skewed by his last start, where he recorded two outs and allowed seven runs against the Pirates.
Gonzalez started against the Dodgers on June 30 and took the loss as he allowed three runs in four innings. He’s pitched in seven games since then and allowed at least one homer in each outing. He hasn’t struck out more than four batters in a game this season.
Gavin Lux leads off for the Dodgers today. Russell Martin catches Urias, and Cody Bellinger starts in center with A.J. Pollock in left. Justin Turner is back in the lineup, and Matt Beaty starts at first. Joc Pederson and Chris Taylor are both out of the lineup. Pederson was removed yesterday after crashing into the wall, but is reportedly available to play today and is expected to start tomorrow. Taylor is dealing with foot discomfort.
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Dustin May avoided serious injury.
May will face hitters tomorrow after being struck by a comebacker in Sunday’s finale in Arizona. Seems like good news.
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Austin Barnes will rejoin the Dodgers on Friday. However, he’s expected to be the lone remaining call-up.
Kyle Garlick and Edwin Rios won’t be activated as the Dodgers reportedly want to keep their expanded roster relatively small. The Dodgers seemingly believe they have enough players that need to get their September at-bats in to prepare for the postseason, which makes some sense.
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The only September call-up my cold, dead heart needs.
