White Sox @ Dodgers June 15, 2023: Dodgers look to avoid fourth straight series loss with Grove starting the rubber match

The Dodgers dropped another game last night, as the White Sox scored six runs in the final three frames to secure an 8-4 win. It was a rough balance between some questionable decisions and players not executing, and now the Dodgers need a win tonight to avoid losing a series at home to a team nine games under .500. The Diamondbacks already lost today for their third straight loss, also opening the door for the Dodgers to shrink the gap in the division to two games ahead of a weekend series against the Giants, who have won four straight.

	7:10 P.M.		Los Angeles
SS	Anderson	RF	Betts
RF	Sheets (L)	1B	Freeman (L)
CF	Robert Jr.	C	Smith
DH	Jimenez	DH	Heyward (L)
3B	Burger	LF	Peralta (L)
1B	Vaughn	2B	Vargas
C	Grandal (S)	CF	Outman (L)
LF	Frazier	3B	Taylor
2B	Andrus	SS	Rojas
P	Cease (R)	P	Grove (R)

Michael Grove starts today for his seventh Major League appearance and third since returning from the IL. His last appearance was in Philly last Friday, where he came in behind Victor Gonzalez. The Dodgers deployed Gonzalez to prevent Grove from facing the left-handed-heavy top of the Phillies lineup, and Gonzalez issued a walk and got two groundouts. That move ended up being wise, as Grove ended up facing the top of the order in the third and fifth innings. In the third, he allowed a triple to Kyle Schwarber and and RBI single to Bryce Harper. He started the fifth with a single by Edmundo Sosa, and then he walked Schwarber, allowed an RBI double to Nick Castellanos and threw a wild pitch to score Schwarber. He got Harper this time, but allowed a Trea Turner RBI single to put the Dodgers down 4-1. The Dodgers ended up tying the game to keep him off the hook, but Caleb Ferguson allowed a walkoff homer. Grove’s allowed four runs in both games since he’s returned from the IL, and his velocity was a bit down from his previous start where he had his highest average velocities in his short career.

Dylan Cease makes his 15th start of the season for the White Sox. Cease has a 4.38 ERA/4.25 FIP in 74 innings, but 13 of the 36 earned runs he’s allowed came in two starts. He’s been great in his two June starts. His first start of the month came against the Tigers, and he allowed one hit through five innings. He gave up a triple to old friend Zach McKinstry to start the sixth and allowed him to score on a wild pitch for his lone run allowed. Last time out, he allowed four hits in six innings and the only run scored off him was a Joey Wendle solo homer. Cease has seen the Dodgers once in his career and that was a weird start last season. He allowed three baserunners through four innings and allowed a couple baserunners in the fifth, but a Jake Burger error extended the inning. After the error, he allowed two two-run doubles and an RBI single before being lifted for a reliever who threw a wild pitch, giving him six unearned runs allowed.

Cease is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, with a fastball averaging 95.6 MPH. He throws it 40.8 percent of the time, and throws his slider 39 percent of the time. He mixes in a curveball 16.9 percent of the time and has thrown a changeup 3.4 percent of the time, exclusively to lefties. Cease has one of the higher hard-hit rates in baseball, as Baseball Savant has him with a 48 percent hard-hit rate.

Max Muncy remains out of the lineup with Chris Taylor at third. J.D. Martinez gets a day off with Jason Heyward serving as the DH.

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Tomorrow’s game is still slated to be a bullpen game.

Sounds like if Shelby Miller is used tonight, that would hamper the ability for a bullpen game Friday, as he can go multiple innings

Roberts said Miller was unavailable Wednesday night because of a neck issue

— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) June 15, 2023

Shelby Miller could be the key to a bullpen game tomorrow, and if he’s used today they could try to make a roster move for a starter in tomorrow’s series-opening game against the Giants. Bullpen game should go well, as the Dodger bullpen has the second-worst ERA in all of baseball only ahead of a team that’s quite literally playing out the plot of Major League.

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That bullpen could be getting some help before the end of the month.

Daniel Hudson is starting a rehab assignment with Triple-A OKC “sometime this week,” Dave Roberts said. A June return has not yet been ruled out.

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) June 15, 2023

Daniel Hudson will be starting a rehab assignment this week. He could return in the next couple weeks and would almost certainly give the Dodger bullpen a big boost.

Dave Roberts said he misspoke yesterday — it’s a “low-grade” hamstring strain for Max Muncy. He did some agility work and took grounders today. Tomorrow will be a decision day on the IL but Roberts said he is optimistic Muncy won’t need an IL stint.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 15, 2023

Roberts had said it was a grade-2 strain, which would be a decently long absence. That was incorrect, and Muncy is still considered day-to-day. He might be placed on the IL tomorrow, but the more likely outcome is him missing nine games and then re-injuring himself and being out until September.

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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.