The Dodgers (68-49) won the series opener against the Blue Jays (68-50) Friday night, but yesterday finally did the impossible, playing well in two consecutive days with a dominant 9-1 victory. Blake Snell looked fantastic, while the offense really showed up with ten hits and five walks, including a six run sixth inning. Today Tyler Glasnow takes the mound looking to lead the Dodgers to their first sweep since the White Sox in the beginning of July. The left-handed Eric Lauer will be on the hill for the Jays, hoping to prevent the sweep for Toronto.
1:10 P.M.
Los Angeles
RF
Lukes (L)
DH
Ohtani (L)
SS
Bichette
SS
Betts
1B
Guerrero Jr.
C
Smith
3B
Barger (L)
1B
Freeman (L)
DH
France
RF
T. Hernández
CF
Varsho (L)
CF
Pages
2B
Clement
3B
Muncy (L)
LF
Loperfido (L)
2B
Rojas
C
Heineman (S)
LF
Call
P
Lauer (L)
P
Glasnow (R)
The Dodgers swap things around against the left-handed Lauer, with Alex Freeland and Michael Conforto heading to the bench in favor of Miguel Rojas and Alex Call. Freeland has been playing well, but he’s performed slightly worse from the right side in the minors, whereas Rojas has a .798 OPS against left-handed pitchers. This semi-platoon seems to work right now as it doesn’t require Rojas to play everyday, gets both Freeland and Rojas positive matchups, and keeps solid defense in the middle infield. Max Muncy will face the left-handed Lauer which is interesting, as he’s been so good for such a long stretch now that it’s hard to argue for removing him from the lineup, but he has struggled against lefties this year. Will Smith will be back in the lineup after resting last night.
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Here’s how Glasnow and Lauer have fared.
Glasnow has more or less looked great in his five starts since returning from injury on July 9, with a 2.17 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP across 29.0 innings. Due to the Dodgers’ struggles over the past month, his record since returning is 0-1, but that’s not indicative of how he’s performed (in four of the five starts). His last outing was essentially a bounce-back, as he struggled mightily with his control in Cincinnati the start prior. He allowed one run on three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts across seven innings against the Cardinals last Monday. He’s now allowed exactly one earned run in four of his five outings since returning from injury, with the four earned run start against the Reds skewing things a bit. He’ll look to build off that start against St. Louis with another good outing today against the Jays.
Lauer struggled mightily in 2023, with a 6.56 ERA in 46.2 innings with the Brewers. He opted to go to Korea last year and play in the KBO where he also struggled, with a 4.93 ERA in 34.2 innings, before signing a one-year deal with the Blue Jays this past offseason. He’s been a full-time starter in the majors since 2018 in San Diego when he was 23, so despite being around for what feels like forever, he just turned 30 two months ago. Thus far, it seems like he still has a lot left in the tank as well, with a sparkling 2.59 ERA, 3.18 FIP, and a 0.98 WHIP in 80.0 innings. He has a 2.83 ERA, 2.83 FIP, and a 1.02 WHIP across ten starts since he joined the rotation on June 11. He’s given up three runs in just one of those starts, and has given up two or fewer in each of the other nine. Including his first eight outings of long relief, he still had allowed two or fewer runs in seven of those eight outings. Just an incredible year of run prevention thus far for Lauer.
He earned the win his last time out against the Rockies, allowing one run on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts across six innings. He currently has a career best strikeout rate, paired with a career best walk rate, a very beneficial combination. He’s faced the Dodgers 12 times and always excelled, with just a 2.63 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 68.1 innings pitched. He has a career 4.10 ERA, so it’s a bit puzzling as to how he’s been so dominant against the Dodgers for over half a decade.
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In other news,
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bobby Miller out of the bullpen sometime soon. They have to give him a shot before the home stretch, but have Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott, and Michael Kopech all slated to return near the end of the month. They also have two upcoming series against the Padres which could ultimately decide the NL West, and maybe they’d prefer to avoid that matchup for Miller. We’ll see how the situation develops as time goes on. If those series against San Diego go well and there is a gap between the two teams come September, he could be a September call up.
Kiké Hernández returning for the playoffs is obviously ideal. A September return also gives Freeland plenty of playing time depending on what the plan is for Hyeseong Kim is when he’s back.
Like I mentioned earlier, just a couple weeks before the bullpen guys start returning.
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First pitch is at 1:10 PT on SNLA.
