In what was an offensive slugfest, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Seattle Mariners, 11-9, on Monday night in their series opener at Dodger Stadium to improve their winning streak to six games.
They now look to go for seven on Tuesday afternoon in a rare 4:10 p.m. PT first pitch at home, and they turn to young right-hander Tony Gonsolin to do so.
Gonsolin is making his third start of the season and looked great in the first two, tossing a combined 8.2 scoreless innings while allowing just four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. In his last outing against the San Diego Padres, Gonsolin struck out a career-high eight batters across 4.2 innings.
The 26-year-old has enjoyed pitching at the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium, yielding a 1.66 ERA in five career games (four starts) there compared to 3.00 in eight games (four starts) on the road.
Seattle counters with its best member of the rotation in lefty Marco Gonzales, who is making his fifth start of the season. Gonzales comes in with a 2-2 record to go along with a 3.97 ERA, 4.57 FIP and 0.93 WHIP with 17 strikeouts and three walks in 22.2 innings.
The 28-year-old is in his sixth big-league season but this marks his first time facing L.A. He should have his handful as the Dodgers come in swinging the bats as well as they have all year.
Leading the way is Mookie Betts, who has been on fire since being moved into the leadoff spot on a permanent basis. In his last five games, Betts is hitting .435/.480/1.087 with five home runs and 11 RBI. Included in that was two hits and a leadoff home run in the series opener.
Also swinging hot bats are the Seager brothers as Corey is hitting .306/.359/.611 with six home runs and 16 RBI on the season while Kyle is at .310/.388/.536 with four home runs and 21 RBI. They played against each other for the first time in their lives on Monday night and both had big nights, each homering and reaching base a combined seven times.
Kyle Lewis is also someone Gonsolin has to be careful with as the rookie leads the American League with 30 hits, slashing .345/.420/.529 with five home runs and 17 RBI. He also went deep in the series opener when the teams combined to leave the ballpark seven times.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
DH: AJ Pollock
CF: Cody Bellinger
LF: Chris Taylor
1B: Max Muncy
2B: Kiké Hernandez
C: Austin Barnes
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