Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers saw their four-game winning streak snap last night, and now cannot clinch a playoff berth on this homestand. Their magic number sits at four games, and with an Arizona win over Cincinnati, they can no longer clinch Sunday. Now, the Dodgers could clinch on an off day Monday (with Arizona playing in New York) or in Baltimore, where the Dodgers will play three games against the Orioles starting Tuesday.
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Giants
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Dodgers
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6:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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LF
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Yastrezmski |
RF
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Pederson | |
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1B
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Belt |
SS
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Seager | |
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3B
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Longoria |
3B
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Turner | |
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C
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Vogt |
1B
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Bellinger | |
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CF
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Pillar |
LF
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Pollock | |
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SS
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Crawford |
2B
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Lux | |
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RF
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Slater | CF | Hernández | |
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2B
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Dubon |
C
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Smith | |
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P
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Beede (R) |
P
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Gonsolin (R) |
Tony Gonsolin gets the start for the Dodgers, which has been a bit of a relief of late. The Dodger rotation has begun to falter with Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler putting forward some awful outings of late. Gonsolin hasn’t gone very deep into games, as his last outing was the second time in five starts where he pitched into the sixth inning. He has, however, been effective at keeping opposing teams at bat. Gonsolin cruised through five innings in Arizona last time out, holding the Diamondbacks to two hits through five. However, he started the sixth inning with a walk and then served up a homer to Eduardo Escobar, which chased him from the game. Gonsolin made four starts in August and allowed four runs and 12 hits in 20 innings. Opponents slashed .169/.234/.324 against Gonsolin for the month, but he got a bit lucky with a .189 BABIP. This will be Gonsolin’s first look at the Giants in his career.
Opposing Gonsolin will be former first round pick Tyler Beede. In 18 starts (and two relief appearances), Beede owns a 5.61 ERA/5.43 FIP in 96 1/3 innings. He’s struck out 91 and issued 40 walks this season. With numbers that rough, it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of Beede’s best starts of the season came in his only start against the Dodgers. On June 17, Beede allowed three hits and one run in six innings at Dodger Stadium for his first career win. He did issue five walks, but the only run scored off him came on a Max Muncy solo homer. Beede’s had some nice starts sprinkled in (headlined by a start against the Mets where he shut them out for eight innings), but he’s allowed four or more runs in nine of his 18 starts this season.
Among pitchers with 150 batted balls against, Beede has the seventh-worst average exit velocity against (91.2 MPH). 45.4 percent of balls hit off Beede are classified as “hard-hit” on Baseball Savant, which is the ninth-worst among pitchers with 150 batted balls against. He most often throws a four seamer or a changeup (56.8 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively), and both pitches have allowed over a .500 slugging percentage this season. His curveball has been his best pitch, as opponents have a .163 batting average and .186 slugging percentage against it.
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The Dodgers have their rotation set for Baltimore.
Walker Buehler was pushed back and will start the opener, with Ross Stripling and Rich Hill throwing the other two games of the series.
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Muncy has a targeted return date, while Alex Verdugo‘s return is still in question.
Muncy is slated to return Friday for the opener in New York. Verdugo likely won’t be back until the Dodgers return to LA following next week, where they’ll play two against the Rays and three against the Rockies to close out the regular season home schedule.
