Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Last night, the Dodgers (15-7) took the first of 19 games against the Giants (14-9) this season by a score of 3-1. Carlos Rodon has been nearly impossible to hit, but a Chris Taylor two run single provided all the offense the team would need, handing Rodón his first loss of the season. Julio Urias put up six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.88 and landing his second win of the year. Craig Kimbrel earned his fifth save of the season and will be unavailable tonight. This is just a brief two game series with San Francisco, with the matchup tonight featuring Tony Gonsolin on the mound against old friend Alex Wood.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| DH | Pederson (L) | RF | Betts |
| 1B | Flores | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| LF | Ruf | SS | T. Turner |
| SS | Crawford (L) | C | Smith |
| 2B | Estrada | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| CF | Yastrzemski (L) | DH | J. Turner |
| 3B | Padlo | CF | Bellinger (L) |
| RF | González (L) | LF | Taylor |
| C | Bart | 2B | Lux (L) |
| P | Wood (L) | P | Gonsolin (R) |
The offense wasn’t able to do much yesterday for either team, with Taylor having two of the five for the Dodgers, while Thairo Estrada and Austin Slater each had two hits for the Giants. Last season the Dodgers and the Giants put up big home run numbers, with the Giants second in home runs at 241, while the Dodgers were fourth with 237. Thus far, the Giants have 24 home runs which puts them eleventh, while the Dodgers have 21, 15th in the league. Joc Pederson will start against the right-handed Gonsolin, as will Mike Yastrzemski. Max Muncy and Justin Turner will swap positions again, with Turner being the DH, while Muncy plays third. Gavin Lux will start at second as Hanser Alberto will be available off the bench. Overall, the Dodgers and Giants have the 12th and 14th ranked offenses by wRC+, unexpected after they each had two of the best regular seasons of all time in 2021.
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Here’s how Gonsolin and Wood matchup.
Wood (2-1) took the loss his last time out, allowing five runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings to the Washington Nationals. He allowed runs in each of the first three innings, but it was just his first poor start of the season having allowed just four earned runs combined over his first three starts. He’s coming off a solid 2021 season with San Francisco, where he a 3.83 ERA, 3.48 FIP, and a 1.18 WHIP in 26 starts and 138.2 innings. His velocity is up about a tick from where it was last season across the board, but he’s the same guy as usual, featuring a low 90’s sinker, mid 80’s changeup and low to mid 80’s slider. He had a 4.76 ERA against the Dodgers in 2021 over three starts, with a 5.64 FIP, and allowing a .964 OPS.
Since the team had two off days this week, Dave Roberts didn’t immediately commit to having Gonsolin start this week, but it makes sense as his last start was eight days ago in Arizona. In that start, he allowed two earned runs on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts over four innings. He started out strong in that game, but allowed some damage in the third, resulting in his worst start of the season. The best takeaway from that start were his five strikeouts over four innings, with just eight over his first three starts. Overall though he’s been very solid, allowing just three total earned runs in his first 17 innings. He faced the Giants just once last season, but allowed three earned runs in just over three innings. He’ll look to improve upon that tonight.
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No need to be worried about Turner yet, but concerned is fair.
David Price will be available relatively soon after testing positive for COVID-19 on April 24.
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Here’s some solid input provided by Dave Roberts on the 2022 baseballs.
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A couple fun matchups against the 9-14 Cubs this weekend.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PM PDT on SNLA.
