With their four-game winning streak and stretch of eight consecutive road wins snapped, the Los Angeles Dodgers send a rookie to the mound for a second time in as many games. A victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday will give Los Angeles a 5-1 record on their road trip.
Dennis Santana will look to fare better than Caleb Ferguson, who only managed to record five outs in his MLB debut. Santana made his debut over the weekend, pitching in relief against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
He allowed five runs on six hits and struck out four in 3.2 innings. Despite the runs allowed, Santana ate up enough innings for the Dodgers in a game they went on to win.
Santana went a combined 1-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.05 WHIP for Double-A Tulsa (eight starts) and Triple-A Oklahoma City (two starts) before being recalled.
The Pirates counter with Jameson Taillon, who is making his 13th start of the season. He enters 3-4 with a 3.97 ERA, 3.63 FIP and 1.16 WHIP, while averaging 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
Taillon is coming off an outing in which he fired eight shutout innings to earn his first win since April 8. The young right-hander hasn’t factored into the decision of two career starts against the Dodgers and has struggled, pitching to a 9.00 ERA in those games.
Justin Turner, who missed the series opener due to soreness in his left wrist, receives another game off. That moves Max Muncy back to third base and brings in Cody Bellinger from center field.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Joc Pederson
3B: Max Muncy
C: Yasmani Grandal
RF: Matt Kemp
1B: Cody Bellinger
SS: Chris Taylor
2B: Breyvic Valera
CF: Kiké Hernandez
P: Dennis Santana
Pirates lineup:
2B: Josh Harrison
RF: Gregory Polanco
CF: Starling Marte
1B: Josh Bell
LF: Corey Dickerson
3B: Colin Moran
C: Elias Diaz
SS: Jordy Mercer
P: Jameson Taillon
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