The Dodgers (65-48) were stymied by Sonny Gray last night and ran into some late batted ball luck for a 3-2 loss in the opener against the Cardinals. Tyler Glasnow was great despite looking a bit shaky early on and allowed a run and three hits over seven innings, but Brock Stewart gave up some soft two-strike hits in the eighth and the Dodgers left Shohei Ohtani on base as the tying run in the ninth. The Diamondbacks beat the Padres to keep the Dodgers three up in the West, but it was another rough offensive showing for a team that hasn’t scored more than five runs in a game since July 22. They also haven’t allowed more than five in a game since then, so while the pitching staff seems to be on the upswing the offense has not looked great. Today, they look to get it going against a pitcher they’ve had success against in the past.
7:10 P.M.
Los Angeles
2B
Donovan (L)
DH
Ohtani (L)
DH
Herrera
SS
Betts
LF
Burleson (L)
1B
Freeman (L)
1B
Contreras
3B
Muncy (L)
CF
Nootbaar (L)
RF
T. Hernández
SS
Winn
LF
Conforto (L)
3B
Gorman (L)
CF
Pages
C
Pozo
2B
Freeland (S)
RF
Walker
C
Rushing (L)
P
Mikolas (R)
P
Sheehan (R)
Emmet Sheehan gets the start coming off an annoying bulk appearance in Cincinnati. He came in in the fifth inning after Ohtani started the game and left mid-inning with cramping. After Anthony Banda finished off Ohtani’s fourth, Sheehan came in in the fifth and allowed one walk and no hits over his first three innings. He remained in for the bottom of the eighth and allowed a walk in between two outs. He issued another two-out walk and got a foul ball that should have been the third out, but Andy Pages couldn’t make the catch and got charged with an error. Spencer Steer then hit a would-be homer that James Outman robbed, but failed to catch and it went for a two-run triple instead. Blake Treinen came in and gave up a third unearned run for Sheehan as a Will Benson single knocked in Steer. It was still a mostly solid outing for Sheehan, who matched his season high with 13 swinging strikes and only one hit allowed. Sheehan’s been solid as a starter so far this season. Three of his four starts were good (if not cut short for pitch count reasons), allowing four earned runs in 14 innings with 15 strikeouts and three walks. His other start was rough, as Milwaukee put up five runs and seven hits in only three innings.
The Dodger offense looks to get on track against Miles Mikolas, who endeared himself to Dodger fans by complaining about “checkbook baseball” and comping the Cardinals to farmers. He’s 1-4 in nine outings (six starts) against the Dodgers in his career, with a 5.50 ERA and a .756 OPS against them. The Dodgers missed him when they played in St. Louis earlier this season, but roughed him up twice last season. He started the Dodgers’ home opener and allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings, with both Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman taking him deep. He had a similar statline when they met in St. Louis, allowing five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 this time (with homers by Betts and Gavin Lux).
Mikolas has had a rough season, with a 4.83 ERA/4.58 FIP in 108 innings. He’s had an especially strange time recently, with a 5.98 ERA over his last nine starts despite throwing two shutouts in that time. He allowed six runs twice in that stretch and somehow allowed six homers (and eight runs total) in one start against the Cubs last month. He is on a bit of a hot stretch coming off two nice starts. He threw five shutout innings against the Padres on the 25th and is coming off a very Dodger-esque start against Miami, taking the loss despite allowing two runs in six innings because the Cards got shut out. Mikolas didn’t allow a homer in his first six starts and has still allowed 18 in his 21 starts, mostly thanks to Michael Busch and that start against the Cubs.
For some reason, I feel like Mikolas is mad about all the blue on his Savant page.
Will Smith gets the day off with Dalton Rushing starting behind the plate. Alex Freeland gets his first look at second in the Majors. He only played one game there in the Minors this season and has played nine total games in his pro career at second, so he’s being thrown into the fire here.
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Not many updates before I’m scheduling this post, but Roki Sasaki spoke about his arm issues.
He’s seemingly getting his velocity back and is working on adding a two-seamer. They’re planning to work him back in as a starter, but there’s a chance he’s used in relief in October if needed.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
