Kershaw inches closer to return and Glasnow looks to get back on track – Dodgers Digest

The Dodgers (17-10) took the second game of this three game set against the Pirates (11-17) last night with a final score of 8-4. It wasn’t perfect, with a couple defensive misplays and poor range in the outfield proving problematic, but it was enough to get the job done. Roki Sasaki and the bullpen were good enough to buy the offense time to put together a crooked number in the eighth inning. Today the Dodgers will look to build upon that performance behind Tyler Glasnow, as he faces off against the left-handed Bailey Falter.

1:10 P.M.

Los Angeles

CF
Cruz (L)
DH
Ohtani (L)

RF
Reynolds (S)
SS
Betts

DH
McCutchen
RF
T. Hernández

1B
Valdez (L)
1B
Freeman (L)

C
Bart
CF
Edman (S)

3B
Hayes
LF
Pages

2B
Frazier (L)
3B
Muncy (L)

LF
Pham
2B
K. Hernández

SS
Kiner-Falefa
C
Barnes

P
Falter (L)
P
Glasnow (R)

Andy Pages has been excellent at the plate for over half the season now after an abysmal start. He added three more hits last night, bringing his OPS up to .779, and with a wRC+ of 121. Since April 8 in Washington, he is slashing .341/.383/.682, good for a 1.065 OPS and 195 wRC+. Kiké Hernández added a pinch hit three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, bringing his OPS over .600. It was his fifth home run of the year, but just his eighth hit overall. Teoscar Hernández added two hits of his own including the go ahead home run to lead off the eighth inning. Shohei Ohtani has undoubtedly been scuffling at the plate, but he added three extra-base hits and stole third base, demonstrating the dynamic player he is. Mookie Betts has been struggling at the plate for a little while, with just four hits in 41 plate appearances over his past nine games. He has a .735 OPS and 112 wRC+ still, and the plate discipline remains excellent with 14 walks to just nine strikeouts on the season. Hard to imagine his offensive output won’t uptick soon. Will Smith has the day off while Austin Barnes starts behind the plate. Michael Conforto will sit against the left-handed Falter, with Pages sliding over to left field, Tommy Edman shifting to center field, and Kiké starting at second base.

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Here’s how today’s starting pitchers have fared this season.

Glasnow is making his fifth start of the year today, returning on schedule from right leg cramps that forced him to leave his previous start against the Rangers. Two of his four starts this season have had some weird occurrence, most recently his leg cramps, as well as the should’ve been rain delay in Philadelphia. He looked great his last time out before leaving the game, going four scoreless innings with six strikeouts. The walks from the start against the Phillies have tanked some of his early season numbers, but the strikeouts and overpowering stuff has still remained for Glasnow. His 31.8% strikeout rate is the eighth highest mark among all starting pitchers, and his .164 batting average allowed is fourth. The Pirates should be a comfortable matchup for Glasnow, looking to just get a normal start under his belt.

Falter is also making his start on schedule, despite leaving his previous start against the Angels with lower-back tightness. He was just four innings into his outing, but was pulled mostly for precautionary reasons. He was pitching decently in that outing with three earned runs and five strikeouts through those four innings, but was coming off an excellent outing against the Nationals in his prior start. During that outing he went seven scoreless innings allowing just two hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Last year he had a 4.43 ERA over 142.1 innings with just 97 strikeouts. He’s a back end of the rotation type, quite useful for most pitching staffs. He has four pitches, a four-seamer and a sinker sitting in the low-90’s, a mid-80’s slider, and an upper-70’s curveball. Should be a favorable matchup for the Dodgers, but who knows with how they’ve performed over the last couple weeks.

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In other news,

Good to see Clayton Kershaw building up and getting stretched out. Still ineligible to return for another three weeks.

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First pitch is at 1:10 PT on SNLA.