After winning the first two games of the series, the Los Angeles Dodgers can complete a sweep of the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium with another victory on Mother’s Day.
Sunday also marks Tony Gonsolin’s 29th birthday, who is on the mound for his fourth start of the season. The right-hander allowed three unearned runs on three hits with six strikeouts over six innings pitched in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers last week.
Gonsolin threw 80 pitches for a second consecutive outing and said after the game that he feels stretched out.
“I thought his last outing was really good and probably his best one yet,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “These guys are pretty familiar with Tony, so it’s more of how do you play the cat-and-mouse, use your pitch mix, sequencing. I expect him to pitch well today.”
Gonsolin is 0-1 with a 1.93 ERA, 5.00 FIP and 1.07 WHIP in 14 innings pitched this season. In six career games against the Padres (five starts), Gonsolin owns a perfect 4-0 record with a 1.45 ERA, 0.71 WHIP and 9.3 strikeouts per nine across 31 frames.
San Diego counters with Ryan Weathers, who was called up from Triple-A El Paso prior to first pitch. Michael Wacha was originally scheduled to start, but he will now pitch on Monday.
The Padres made the change in order to give their starters extra rest, and also likely due to the Dodgers’ struggles against left-handed pitching this season. Entering the series, L.A. was hitting just .201/.298/.410 against southpaws in 404 plate appearances.
Weathers is 1-1 with a 2.50 ERA, 3.79 FIP and 1.11 WHIP in 18 innings pitched over five games (three starts) this year. He also has thrown eight scoreless innings for the Chihuahuas.
Weathers has faced the Dodgers four times in his career, posting a 3.95 ERA with 12 strikeouts across 13.2 innings.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
DH: J.D. Martinez
3B: Max Muncy
2B: Miguel Vargas
LF: Chris Taylor
CF: James Outman
SS: Miguel Rojas
C: Austin Barnes
Padres lineup
RF: Fernando Tatis Jr.
3B: Manny Machado
LF: Juan Soto
SS: Xander Bogaerts
1B: Jake Cronenworth
DH: Nelson Cruz
2B: Ha-Seong Kim
CF: Trent Grisham
C: Brett Sullivan
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