After finishing their homestand with a 6-1 record, the Los Angeles Dodgers head back on the road for a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.
Both teams have not yet announced a starting pitcher for Tuesday’s opener at Petco Park; though for L.A., they are expecting to welcome back Julio Urias. Wednesday’s middle matchup will feature a battle of the aces between Walker Buehler and Blake Snell.
Then on Thursday, Max Scherzer is slated to take the mound for the Dodgers. Who he faces remains to be seen as the Padres have not listed a starter for the series finale either.
Part of why San Diego has yet to announce two of their three probable pitchers against L.A. is because they are holding out hope Yu Darvish can start in one of the games, per Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune:
The hope is that Yu Darvish will start a game against the Dodgers, though Padres manager Jayce Tingler does not know which just yet.
The Padres placed Darvish on the 10-day injured on Aug. 15 due to lower back tightness, but he has since thrown two bullpen sessions with no pain and could be reinstated as soon as Tuesday.
Getting Darvish back would be a big boost for the Padres, who are just 2-8 in their last 10 games and now trailing the Cincinnati Reds for the second spot in the National League Wild Card game.
Darvish has been nearly unhittable in three starts against the Dodgers this season, pitching to a 2-1 record, 1.35 ERA and 0.65 WHIP with 29 strikeouts in 20 innings.
In 23 overall starts this year, Darvish is 7-7 with a 3.70 ERA, 3.71 FIP and 1.03 WHIP over 131.1 innings pitched.
Pollock: Padres ‘just another opponent’
The Padres have gone 7-3 against the Dodgers this season, but AJ Pollock isn’t concerned about getting payback and views them the same as any opponent. “They play well against us. I can’t speak for the whole team, but to me it’s just another opponent,” Pollock said.
“We’re playing good baseball. We just have to go in there and play good baseball, and we’ll be in a good spot if we do that.”
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