After taking the series opener at Great American Ball Park, the Los Angeles Dodgers will look to take the middle game against the Cincinnati Reds and start a winning streak.
The Dodgers enter play with a record of 41-25, and after the San Diego Padres won in extra innings on Tuesday, they remain tied atop the National League West standings. The Reds hold a 23-44 record that has them in last in the NL Central and have lost seven of their last 10 games.
After falling two outs shy of the 27th no-hitter in Dodgers franchise history against the L.A. Angels, Tyler Anderson makes his 11th start of the season with a 2.82 ERA, a 4.2% walk rate, and a 3.08 FIP in 67 innings pitched.
Though, MLB did issue a scoring change to credit Jared Walsh with an infield single rather than an error on Anderson. So his technically did not have a no-hitter when Shohei Ohtani tripled in the ninth inning.
Nevertheless, one factor to watch is the state of Anderson’s elbow. He threw a career-high 123 pitches in the no-hit bid and was seen shaking his left wrist and arm in the fifth inning, though later downplayed concern.
“I feel like I’ve been healthy now for a couple of years and that’s probably why you’ll see me doing stuff like that on the bench, like where I’m playing with something or you know trying to massage something or work on something,” Anderson said after his start against the Angels.
“I think after you face a lot of injuries you kind of are hypersensitive to your body. But you know I feel like in general I’ve had a lot of good help and we have a great medical staff here as well. Just get you out there every day feeling your best.”
On the year Anderson has surrendered a .208 batting average to opposing hitters and his 71 ERA+ is the best mark of his career.
The Reds counter with Luis Castillo, who is making his ninth start and is 2-4 on the year. He has a 3.33 ERA, 3.43 FIP, and has held opposing hitters to a .202 batting average in 46 innings.
Castillo is pretty equal in his pitch usage, but similar to Tuesday’s starter Tyler Mahle, he leans on a four-seam fastball to put hitters away. He is surrendering just a .107 batting average on his heater this season and should rely on it against a Dodgers team that has primarily hunted the offspeed in 2022.
Of course, there is also the factor of Castillo being viewed by many as a prime trade candidate at the deadline this season. The Dodgers figure to be in the market for starting pitching, and presumably will at least hold cursor talks with the Reds at some point.
With Mookie Betts out for a few weeks, the Dodgers lineup now features Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman at the top of the order, and the duo went 7-for-9 with five RBI on Tuesday. Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games and notched his first four-hit game since being traded to the Dodgers last year.
Dodgers lineup
SS: Trea Turner
1B: Freddie Freeman
C: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
LF: Chris Taylor
DH: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
RF: Eddy Alvarez
2B: Gavin Lux
Reds lineup
2B: Jonathan India
DH: Brandon Drury
LF: Tommy Pham
1B: Joey Votto
SS: Kyle Farmer
3B: Donovan Solano
RF: Matt Reynolds
CF: Albert Almora Jr.
C: Aramis Garcia
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