Now back to playing in front of a normal capacity crowd at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers can finish their homestand with a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies and extend their winning streak to four games.
L.A. enters play a season-best 15 games above .500 and only one game back of the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West standings. The Dodgers are 4-1 on their homestand thus far and have won seven of the last 10 games.
They try to keep momentum behind Clayton Kershaw, who bounced back in his last start. After consecutive outings of allowing five earned runs, Kershaw shut out the Texas Rangers and collected nine strikeouts over six innings.
He was caught by Will Smith for the first time this season due to Austin Barnes nursing a mild left ankle sprain. However, Barnes again forms the battery with Kershaw on Wednesday night.
“Will’s great. I have no problem throwing to Will. And I obviously have no problem throwing to Barnesy too,” Kershaw said after his start. “Barnesy is the man and I love throwing to Barnesy. It’s a good problem to have.
“I’ve just worked with Barnesy so long, but I think having the ability to throw to Will and have confidence in that will give Doc some options moving forward. If there’s anything that pops up, like Barnesy having an ankle thing, it gives us some options, which is good.”
The Phillies counter with Zack Wheeler, who has gone at least seven innings in eight of his past nine starts. The right-hander struck out 12 in eight scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves last week.
The Phillies are going to be without Bryce Harper (lower back tightness) and Jean Segura (groin) in the series finale. Both suffered their respective injuries on Tuesday, with Harper exiting in the fourth inning and Segura with two outs in the ninth after legging out an infield single.
Steven Souza Jr. has joined the Dodgers from Triple-A Oklahoma City, taking the place of Nate Jones. L.A. signed Jones to a Minor League contract last month but designated him for assignment in order to select Souza’s contract.
Souza makes his Dodgers debut by starting in right field and batting seventh.
Dodgers lineup
CF: Mookie Betts
SS: Gavin Lux
2B: Chris Taylor
1B: Matt Beaty
LF: AJ Pollock
3B: Zach McKinstry
RF: Steven Souza Jr.
C: Austin Barnes
P: Clayton Kershaw
Phillies lineup
CF: Odubel Herrera
1B: Rhys Hoskins
C: J.T. Realmuto
LF: Andrew McCutchen
3B: Alec Bohm
2B: Luke Williams
RF: Brad Miller
SS: Ronald Torreyes
P: Zack Wheeler
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