Noah Syndergaard is on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they attempt to take a series edge over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at Busch Stadium.
The Dodgers shut out the Cardinals on Friday night, making the most of Tony Gonsolin’s solid outing as he allowed just one hit with three strikeouts over five innings. His five shutout innings on Friday added on to a National League-leading 3.20 ERA that Dodgers starters have amassed in the month of May.
Entering play on Saturday, the Dodgers hold a 29-17 record, which has them in first place of the NL West over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Syndergaard is 1-3 with a 5.94 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 36.1 innings of work. The 30-year-old has dealt with some blister issues, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed confidence that there wouldn’t be any pause with Syndergaard making starts, although his finger would be consistently evaluated.
In his most recent start against the Minnesota Twins, Syndergaard lasted four innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits. His five strikeouts were his highest since April 14.
The 30-year-old didn’t seem to feel any negative residual effects from the blister, seeing his fastball velocity touch 94 mph while generating 21 combined chases and whiffs.
He squares off against fellow right-hander in Miles Mikolas, who makes his 10th start of the season. On the year, he’s 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA and 1.57 WHIP, and in his most recent outing against the Boston Red Sox, hurled six innings one one-run ball.
However, Mikolas was unable to register a strikeout against the Red Sox. Although he’s been a key beneficiary of generating soft contact to be successful, he’ll need to miss bats in order to string together clean innings against a Dodgers lineup that thrives on making pitchers work.
So far in 2023, the Dodgers rank first in Major League Baseball against right-handed pitching, with a 116 wRC+ and an NL-best 51 homers.
Prior to the game, the Dodgers placed Julio Urías on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and recalled Wander Suero from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
DH: J.D Martinez
3B: Max Muncy
2B: Miguel Vargas
LF: David Peralta
CF: Jason Heyward
SS: Chris Taylor
C: Austin Barnes
Cardinals lineup
CF: Lars Nootbaar
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
DH: Nolan Gorman
3B: Nolan Arenado
C: Willson Contreras
RF: Brendan Donovan
SS: Paul DeJong
LF: Alec Burleson
2B: Tommy Edman
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