Riding a solid stretch in June, the Los Angeles Dodgers return from their road trip to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks for the start of a six-game homestand.
Going 16-10 this past month, the Dodgers maintain a 7.5-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West standings. Returning to their home ballpark, they’ve also played at a high clip, going 25-16 thus far at Dodger Stadium.
Bobby Miller gets the ball for his third start since returning from a right shoulder injury and looks to put together a complete outing. The 25-year-old owns a 6.40 ERA, 5.46 FIP with a 1.92 WHIP over five starts, showing a serious step back in command and swing-and-miss stuff.
Miller has allowed a .323 batting average with a 50% hard hit rate to opposing hitters in his last two outings. Despite much of a feel for secondary stuff, the right-hander still believes he’s in a good place even with the poor results.
Facing a Diamondbacks lineup that ranks middle of the pack against righties, they come into play with a 99 wRC+ as a team in those matchups. However, the last time Miller faced Arizona came in the NL Division Series, when he had a blow-up start, putting the Dodgers in a huge hole early.
Miller is at his best when his secondary stuff is around the strike zone, allowing for a four-seam fastball that lives in the upper-90s to make life tough for hitters.
Ryne Nelson is expected to pitch the bulk of the game. He enters Tuesday with a 5.69 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and .314 batting average allowed. Over his last seven starts, the 26-year-old owns a 4.66 ERA with a 1.34 WHIP.
Nelson faced the Dodgers on May 22, tossing five scoreless innings, allowing just five hits. He’s coming off a rough start against the Minnesota Twins in which he surrendered six runs on 10 hits over 3.2 innings pitched.
However, Joe Mantiply gets the start as the D-Backs opener. He owns a 4.11 ERA in 30.2 innings this year with 26 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP.
The Dodgers are among Major League Baseball’s top offenses against righties, posting a 122 wRC+ as a unit since June 1, the fifth-best mark among all teams.
In that same span, both Shohei Ohtani (217 wRC+) and Freddie Freeman (189 wRC+) rank within the top-20 hitters in those plus-matchups.
Dodgers Lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
C: Will Smith
1B: Freddie Freeman
LF: Teoscar Hernández
CF: Andy Pages
SS: Miguel Rojas
RF: Jason Heyward
3B: Chris Taylor
2B: Gavin Lux
Diamondbacks Lineup
RF: Corbin Carroll
2B: Ketel Marte
DH: Joc Pederson
1B: Christian Walker
LF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
C: Gabriel Moreno
3B: Eugenio Suárez
CF: Alek Thomas
SS: Geraldo Perdomo
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