The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the middle game of their three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, but now have an opportunity to take the series as the calendar turns to May.
The Dodgers stand as the only team in the National League West with a winning record at 19-13, and have been incredibly solid when playing on the road. Standing four games ahead of their nearest division opponent, they’ve been on a run of complimentary play during the road trip.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball on Wednesday, making his seventh start of the regular season. To this point, the right-hander owns a 3.54 ERA, 2.66 FIP, 1.07 WHIP and a .220 batting average allowed.
Since his blow-up Dodgers debut in the Seoul Series, Yamamoto has been stellar. In his last five starts, he’s pitched to the tune of a 2.00 ERA, with a 0.93 WHIP.
A pleasant surprise for the 25-year-old is his growing disparity in strikeout to walk ratio, which stands at 26.7%.
He faces a scuffling Diamondbacks lineup that has been a plus-group against four-seam fastballs, a pitch which Yamamoto has struggled to hammer out against big league hitters. The plan for him might be to emphasize his secondary stuff, mainly his split-finger and curveball.
Jordan Montgomery goes for the Diamondbacks after being pushed back from his Tuesday start because of the bee delay.
The veteran left-hander has made just two starts this season, but has logged a 2.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP over 13 innings pitched. Montgomery hasn’t been punished with hard contact, as he’s done a fine job of missing barrels.
Signing with them late in Spring Training gives them another key arm at their disposal when he’s completely healthy. Look for him to give the Diamondbacks length, and in his most recent outing he gave them seen innings of three run baseball.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has a good lineup at the ready to rival a left-hander, and they’ve done so with an eighth-best 119 wRC+ against southpaws.
Montgomery will have a tough time against the Dodgers, who’ve struck out just 18.1% of the time against lefties, good for fourth-best in MLB.
However, that comes without Shohei Ohtani in the lineup as Will Smith starts at designated hitter with Austin Barnes behind the plate. It is presumably a day off for Ohtani.
Among other lineup notes, Max Muncy, James Outman and Gavin Lux continue to sit against left-handed pitching, while Miguel Rojas is back at second base.
Dodgers lineup
SS: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
DH: Will Smith
RF: Teoscar Hernández
3B: Kiké Hernández
CF: Andy Pages
2B: Miguel Rojas
LF: Chris Taylor
C: Austin Barnes
Diamondbacks lineup
RF: Jake McCarthy
LF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
2B: Ketel Marte
1B: Christian Walker
DH: Joc Pederson
3B: Eugenio Suárez
C: Gabriel Moreno
SS: Blaze Alexander
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