The Los Angeles Dodgers put together another shutout win against the New York Mets and now can take a commanding 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series. Doing so would put the Mets on the brink of elimination heading into a third consecutive home game at Citi Field.
Freddie Freeman is not in the Dodgers lineup for a second time this postseason. Freeman is playing through a severely sprained right ankle, and manager Dave Roberts said after Game 3 the expectation was he would start Thursday.
Freeman is a career 5-for-13 with one double and one home run against Jose Quintana.
Max Muncy is playing first base in place of Freeman, which has Kiké Hernández at third base and created an opportunity for Andy Pages in center field.
Meanwhile, Chris Taylor is starting at second base as the Dodgers continue to platoon Gavin Lux.
Much like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler each turned in better performances during their second starts of the postseason. Yamamoto starts Thursday in his third outing of the playoffs but first in the NLCS.
He last pitched Oct. 11, holding the San Diego Padres scoreless over five innings to help the Dodgers win Game 5 of the NL Division Series.
Yamamoto has remained on a schedule of receiving extra between outings during the postseason, and thus the start in Game 3 is going to be his only appearance in the NLCS.
Quintana has thrown 11 scoreless innings and collected 11 strikeouts over two starts in the playoffs thus far.
Quintana took the loss as he gave up three runs but got through six innings in a start against the Dodgers on May 28. Will Smith and Miguel Vargas each hit a home run off the southpaw.
Smith is now mired in an October slump and Vargas is no longer with the Dodgers as he was included in a three-team trade with the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline.
Dodgers lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
RF: Mookie Betts
LF: Teoscar Hernández
SS: Tommy Edman
3B: Kiké Hernández
1B: Max Muncy
C: Will Smith
CF: Andy Pages
2B: Chris Taylor
Mets lineup
SS: Francisco Lindor
3B: Mark Vientos
1B: Pete Alonso
LF: Brandon Nimmo
RF: Starling Marte
DH: J.D. Martinez
2B: Jose Iglesias
CF: Harrison Bader
C: Francisco Alvarez
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