Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers finally remembered how to hit last night, scoring two in the fifth inning and four in the eighth for a 6-0 win. Tony Gonsolin and the bullpen held the Padres scoreless for the first time this season. Tonight, the Dodgers look for a series sweep and get a key bat back in the lineup.
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| 6:40 p.m. | Los Angeles | ||
| SS | Tatis Jr. | RF | Betts |
| 3B | Machado | DH | Seager (L) |
| DH | Pham | 3B | Turner |
| 1B | Hosmer (L) | 1B | Bellinger (L) |
| RF | Myers | CF | Pollock |
| 2B | Profar (S) | 2B | Muncy (L) |
| CF | Olivares | LF | Pederson (L) |
| C | Hedges | SS | Taylor |
| LF | Mateo | C | Barnes |
| P | Paddack (R) | P | Urias (L) |
Julio Urias gets the start on National Left-Handers Day. He was given an extra day in between starts with Gonsolin turning in a nice outing last night. Urias has been pretty good in his three starts in 2020, allowing four runs in 15 innings. He wasn’t efficient in his last outing, needing 78 pitches to get through four innings against the Giants. However, he did hold them to a single run and three hits while striking out only two.
Urias has had a weird season so far. He’s not missing many bats, but has gotten opponents to make weak contact at a pretty good level.
Obviously still a small sample size, but it’s notable that Urias is not getting swings and misses. He struck out five in six innings in Arizona, but struck out five batters combined in his other two starts. Urias saw the Padres four times last season (all in relief) and had three scoreless outings. He had one outing where he allowed two runs (one earned) and four hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Chris Paddack takes the ball for the Padres for the fifth time this season. He’s allowed three runs in each of his last two starts, the first of which came against the Dodgers in San Diego. Joc Pederson led off that game with a homer, but Paddack settled in to hold the Dodgers off the board until the fifth inning. The Dodgers recorded two doubles and a single in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, but Brusdar Graterol and Caleb Ferguson allowed runs in the sixth and the Padres held on to a 5-4 win. Paddack took his first loss of the season last time out against Arizona, where he allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed one run through five, but allowed two solo homers in the sixth to chase him from the game.
Paddack is mostly a two-pitch pitcher, throwing a fastball 57.5 percent of the time and a changeup 31.2 percent of the time in 2020. This isn’t a case of small sample size, as he threw his fastball (61.1) and changeup (28.4) nearly as much in 2019 as well.
Corey Seager returns to the Dodger lineup, hitting second and DHing. Chris Taylor starts at shortstop. Austin Barnes starts behind the plate, and Mookie Betts leads off against a righty.
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Barnes starts tonight and will likely start tomorrow.
Will Smith tweaked something last night, and is reportedly only available tonight in an emergency.
Alex Wood is also trending in the right direction for a return. Like I said in whenever my last thread was (feels like years ago), it’s not a hot take to suggest Wood isn’t one of the five best Dodger starters right now.
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Gonsolin turned in his best Major League outing yesterday and may have earned another start.
The Dodgers’ next off day is 8/24, so keeping Gonsolin in the rotation could be beneficial.
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This is good.
I have never voted in person (imagine voting not in pajamas), but the Dodgers have teamed up with LeBron James’ nonprofit, More Than A Vote, to encourage voter turnout with Dodger Stadium being used as a voting center.
The Dodgers are the first baseball team to announce this. State Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, was used as a voting center in Georgia.
Please vote.
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Nothing but respect for my president.
It is good content.
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First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.
