Clayton Kershaw makes his second start of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers look to come away with a series split against the San Diego Padres after blowing a five-run lead en route to a walk-off loss in 10 innings Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Still hanging on to a 5.5-game advantage in the National League West standings, the Dodgers need newly-acquired reinforcements to bolster production at the bottom of their lineup. Winners in six of their last 10 games, a decent stretch could provide some more cushion between themselves and rest of the division.
Kershaw impressed in his first action against the San Francisco Giants on July 25, allowing two earned runs on six hits while tallying six strikeouts.
His slider looked to be in good shape, registering eight whiffs. Kershaw induced 14 swings-and-misses in total over his four innings against the Giants.
The first-ballot Hall of Fame lefty is still in the early part of his season, but didn’t show many signs of fatigue or stress. Kershaw’s matchup with the Padres is a different test, however, as they boast a 117 wRC+ as an offense since June when facing southpaws.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he hopes Kershaw can complete five innings or throw upwards of 85 pitches.
Kershaw is 23-10 with a 2.12 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 46 career starts against the Padres. At Petco Park, he’s gone 11-5 with a 2.08 ERA in 21 starts.
Dylan Cease gets the ball for San Diego, coming off his first career no-hitter. The 28-year-old went the distance against the Washington Nationals on July 25, striking out nine in his complete game that was just the second no-hitter in Padres franchise history.
In 22 starts this season, Cease has a 3.50 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, with 168 strikeouts in 131 innings pitched. Over his last three starts (22 innings), Cease hasn’t allowed an earned run while tallying 30 punch outs.
Cease commands the strike zone with a power four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, sweeper, and a seldom-used combo of changeups and cutters.
Cease’s slider is one of the best in baseball, registering a 15-run value on the devastating secondary pitch. Batters have hit just .159 with a .259 slugging percentage off the slider.
The Dodgers lineup is still sporting the depleted-look as they remain without Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy.
Dodgers lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
C: Will Smith
2B: Gavin Lux
LF: Teoscar Hernández
RF: Jason Heyward
CF: Andy Pages
1B: Cavan Biggio
3B: Kiké Hernández
SS: Nick Ahmed
Padres lineup
DH: Luis Arraez
LF: Jurickson Profar
2B: Xander Bogaerts
3B: Manny Machado
1B: Donovan Solano
CF: Jackson Merrill
SS: Ha-Seong Kim
C: Luis Campusano
RF: Bryce Johnson
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