Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The Los Angeles Dodgers (22-18) seem to be turning things around despite losing Sunday’s series finale against the Miami Marlins as -150 home favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Dodgers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks (18-23) next in a key four-game set beginning on Monday after winning four of their last five, and they opened as -183 favorites for the series opener at Chavez Ravine (how the moneyline works).
Walker Buehler (1-0, 3.45 ERA) will get the ball to start things off for Los Angeles opposite Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner (4-2, 4.12 ERA), who has been outstanding of late. While Buehler has walked away with no-decisions in each of his last five starts, Bumgarner has gone 4-0 over his past five outings since getting off to an 0-2 start in his first three trips to the mound in 2021.
Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers | OddsShark Matchup Report
The 31-year-old lefty has done a stellar job for the Diamondbacks in his second year with them after coming over from the San Francisco Giants, allowing no more than one run and four hits in his previous 30 innings, walking only two batters and striking out 34 during that stretch. Buehler has not been nearly as good, as the 26-year-old righty has seen the Dodgers manage to win just one time in his previous 32.1 innings of work without going to extra innings.
The opener might be the most favorable pitching matchup of the series though for Arizona, as Julio Urias (5-1, 3.26 ERA), Clayton Kershaw (6-3, 3.20 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (4-2, 2.20 ERA) are next in line for Los Angeles on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The Diamondbacks still have yet to officially decide the order of their starters the rest of the way in this series, but Merrill Kelly (2-4, 5.24 ERA), Riley Smith (1-3, 6.83 ERA) and Seth Frankoff (0-0, 3.86 ERA) are all candidates who could see action. Kelly and Smith have both suffered losses in their last two starts.
Arizona enters this series losers of four of five and 10 of 13, and the team has also dropped seven of the past eight meetings, according to the OddsShark MLB Database. The Diamondbacks did upset the Dodgers 5-2 as +210 home underdogs at online betting sites in the most recent game between the teams last September 20 to end a seven-game series skid. Los Angeles has won the last five meetings at home as well and nine of 10.
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