The Los Angeles Dodgers look to rebound from an 11-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the series opener as they send Clayton Kershaw to the mound.
With Albert Pujols’ chase for his 700th home run taking much, if not all, of the focus from Friday’s game, the Dodgers never got going on and their pitching struggled.
Kershaw makes his 20th start of the season, entering with a 9-3 record, 2.39 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 2.50 FIP across 109.1 innings pitched. The 34-year-old has been terrific after his activation off of the injured list on Sept. 1, and in four starts, he’s posted a 1.50 ERA and 0.75 WHIP.
This Cardinals lineup has a lot of history facing Kershaw, mainly Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, from their time with the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, respectively.
Kershaw needs to bring his best stuff to the table against the No. 1 offense in Major League Baseball against left-handed pitching. The Cardinals have a 130 wRC+ and .809 on-base plus slugging against southpaws this season.
In his prior start against the Diamondbacks, Kershaw tallied 10 strikeouts over six innings in a one-run, six-hit performance, earning the win.
Jordan Montgomery gets the ball for his 31st start of the season and 10th as a member of the Cardinals. The 29-year-old was traded from the New York Yankees and has been stellar since then, posting a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.
Montgomery is coming off his worst two starts since joining the Cardinals, however, and in his last 10.1 innings pitched, has allowed seven earned runs on 14 hits.
Freddie Freeman received a night of rest during the series opener — just his second time not being in the Dodgers lineup this season — and was scratched from the lineup on Saturday due to an illness. Miguel Vargas makes another start at first base in Freeman’s place.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
SS: Trea Turner
DH: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
2B: Chris Taylor
LF: Trayce Thompson
C: Austin Barnes
1B: Miguel Vargas
CF: Cody Bellinger
Cardinals lineup
2B: Tommy Edman
DH: Albert Pujols
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
3B: Nolan Arenado
LF: Juan Yepez
CF: Dylan Carlson
SS: Paul DeJong
C: Andrew Knizner
RF: Lars Nootbaar
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