The Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off a forgettable 8-1 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates as they look to rebound at PNC Park and end their road trip with a series win.
Wednesday’s loss snapped the Dodgers’ three-game winning streak and dropped them to a half-game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West with a 13-12 record.
The Dodgers send out Julio Urías, who is coming off his worst start of the 2023 season where he gave up five earned runs in just 3.1 innings against the Chicago Cubs. Urías enters with 3-2 record, 3.33 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 30 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched this year.
Prior to struggling at Wrigley Field, the left-hander had allowed two earned runs or fewer in each outing this season. Urías logged six innings each of his first three outings, and providing some length in the series finale against Pittsburgh would be a needed boon for the Dodgers bullpen.
The Pirates counter with Mitch Keller, who is 2-0 with a 3.64 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. In Keller’s last start, he gave up two earned runs in six innings of work against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers will likely see a balanced attack of hard stuff, as Keller throws an almost even mix of cutters (23.9%), four-seam fastballs (22.7%) and sinkers (21%). He’ll add in a sweeping curveball (14.8%) and traditional curveball (13.7%) as well.
Offensively, the Dodgers’ habit of struggling to score runs the day after an outburst once again reared its ugly head. Chris Taylor’s dramatic three-run home run in the eighth inning in the first game in the series gave L.A. an 8-7 win, only to be followed by scoring just one run the next night.
Injuries to the likes of J.D. Martinez and Will Smith have certainly not helped the Dodgers in their quest to find consistency.
Nor has Freddie Freeman batting .192/.300/.346 in his last seven games, or Mookie Betts hitting .185/.241/.333 in his last week on the field.
Dodgers Lineup
2B: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
RF: Jason Heyward
CF: James Outman
DH: David Peralta
SS: Chris Taylor
3B: Michael Busch
LF: Trayce Thompson
C: Austin Barnes
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