After winning five of the first six games on their road trip, the Los Angeles Dodgers begin a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
It marks the first meeting between the teams since the 2023 National League Division Series, when the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers in three games.
Through the first month of the regular season, the clubs find themselves in different situations. The Dodgers, at 18-12, own the best record and run differential (plus-38) in the NL West, which was to be expected after their historic offseason.
The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have gone 13-16 and are tied for third place with the San Diego Padres. Arizona has the second-best run differential in the division at plus-29, which suggests they have been somewhat unlucky so far.
James Paxton makes his fifth start and is looking for more consistency after an uneven start to his season. He gave up just one run in his last outing against the Washington Nationals, but once again dealt with a lot of traffic on the basepaths as allowed five hits and issued three walks.
Paxton enters at 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA, 5.84 FIP and 1.55 WHIP in 20.2 innings pitched this season. Command has been his biggest issue as he has walked 17 batters compared to 11 strikeouts.
After spending the first 10 seasons of his career in the American League, Paxton is making his first career start against the Diamondbacks.
Arizona counters with Tommy Henry, who is coming off his best outing of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals. He allowed just one run on five hits and collected six strikeouts in six innings of work.
Henry carries a 1-1 record with a 5.55 ERA, 4.58 FIP and 1.60 WHIP into his start on Monday. He is making his first career appearance against the Dodgers.
Prior to the game the Dodgers recalled Gus Varland from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed Ryan Brasier on the 15-day injured list because of a right calf strain.
Dodgers lineup
2B: Mookie Betts
DH: Shohei Ohtani
1B: Freddie Freeman
C: Will Smith
RF: Teoscar Hernández
3B: Max Muncy
LF: Kiké Hernández
CF: Andy Pages
SS: Miguel Rojas
Diamondbacks lineup
DH: Blaze Alexander
LF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
2B: Ketel Marte
1B: Christian Walker
3B: Eugenio Suárez
RF: Randal Grichuk
C: Gabriel Moreno
CF: Corbin Carroll
SS: Kevin Newman
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