The Los Angeles Dodgers offense finally came alive in Saturday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, scoring 11 innings while hitting four home runs in the victory. Now, the Dodgers take the field Sunday afternoon at Chase Field looking to take three out of four games from their division rivals.
They do so with Clayton Kershaw on the mound, as he makes his season debut after spending the first couple weeks of the season on the 10-day injured list due to a back issue. Kershaw is coming off another All-Star season in which he went 16-5 with a 3.03 ERA, 3.86 FIP and 1.04 WHIP with 189 strikeouts and 41 walks in 178.1 innings.
He has fared well against the Diamondbacks in his career, starting against them 33 times and accumulating a 16-10 record to go along with a 2.84 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. He hasn’t been quite as good at Chase Field though, yielding a 4.09 ERA there in 17 starts.
Kershaw is faced with the tough task of slowing down Christian Walker, who has worn him out in his career. In just 11 at-bats against Kershaw, Walker has five hits, with four of them leaving the ballpark.
Getting the start for the Diamondbacks is right-hander Merrill Kelly, and he is looking to build off a strong first start of the year. In 7.2 innings against the Texas Rangers, Kelly allowed just three hits and a run while striking out seven and walking one to earn a victory.
He faced the Dodgers twice in his rookie season in 2019, allowing a combined nine hits and six runs in 10 innings (5.40 ERA) while striking out six and walking four.
Luckily for Kelly, he won’t have to face one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball as Corey Seager is getting a day off due to a minor quad injury. He is believed to be day-to-day, but the timing is unfortunate as Seager is batting .361/.425/.694 with three home runs and three doubles on the season while leading all of baseball with 21 hard-hit balls.
Mookie Betts is in the lineup for the Dodgers, however, and he is also heating up at the plate. After a slow start offensively to his Dodgers career, Betts comes in with a six-game hitting streak, hitting .346/.433/.615 with a home run in that span.
Cody Bellinger also returns to the lineup after a much-needed day off on Saturday. He is off to a slow start to the season but homered off Kelly last season.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
1B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
SS: Chris Taylor
LF: AJ Pollock
DH: Joc Pederson
2B: Kiké Hernandez
C: Austin Barnes
Diamondbacks lineup
2B: Ketel Marte
CF: Starling Marte
1B: Christian Walker
DH: Eduardo Escobar
RF: Kole Calhoun
C: Carson Kelly
LF: David Peralta
3B: Ildemaro Vargas
SS: Nick Ahmed
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