Through Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have played contests similar to their 2015 National League Division Series matchup, with strong pitching and timely hitting proving key. Los Angeles is one night removed from a walk-off win and face another hard-throwing right-hander in Noah Syndergaard.
The Dodgers counter with Kenta Maeda, who is off to an exceptional start in his American professional career. In his first six outings, Maeda is 3-1 with a 1.66 ERA, 3.15 FIP and 0.95; he’s tallied 35 strikeouts over 38 innings pitched.
Maeda’s ERA ranks second in the NL, his WHIP is fourth, and opponents’ batting average (.191) ranks seventh.
Maeda has made quality starts in five of his six career starts and joins Don Sutton (1966), Hyun-Jin Ryu (2013) and John Ely (2010) as the only Dodgers in franchise history (since 1913) to pitch at least 6.0 innings in their first six career starts.
Maeda is 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA in three home starts. Syndergaard enters 2-2 with a 2.58 ERA, 1.58 FIP and 1.07 WHIP in six starts.
He’s struck out 49 while only walking eight in 38.1 innings. Syndergaard twice faced the Dodgers in the NLDS last year. He started Game 2, allowing five hits and three runs over 6.1 innings. Syndergaard then threw a scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts in Game 5.
The Dodgers’ lineup on Wednesday night has a minor change, with Howie Kendrick starting at third base in place of Justin Turner. Kendrick is batting just .198/.235/.210 with three RBIs in 26 games this season.
However, the veteran has shown some signs of life at the plate recently, hitting safely in five of his last six starts. Included in that is a four-hit game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Howie Kendrick
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
C: Yasmani Grandal
CF: Joc Pederson
RF: Yasiel Puig
LF: Carl Crawford
P: Kenta Maeda
Mets lineup:
RF: Curtis Granderson
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera
LF: Michael Conforto
CF: Yoenis Cespedes
1B: Lucas Duda
2B: Neil Walker
3B: Eric Campbell
C: Rene Rivera
P: Noah Syndergaard
