The Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to a season-high tying six games when they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series opener on Monday night, and now they take the field on Tuesday looking to earn a series victory.
Arizona has their work cut out for them, facing the best pitcher in all of baseball this season, Hyun-Jin Ryu. The left-hander comes in with an 8-1 record while leading all qualified Major League starters in ERA (1.48), strikeout-to-walk ratio (13.80) and walks-per-nine-innings (0.6).
He also leads the National League with a 0.81 WHIP to go along with a 2.52 FIP, 69 strikeouts and five walks in 73 innings across 11 starts. Ryu had a stellar May and earned National League Pitcher of the Month honors.
Ryu has faced the Diamondbacks extensively throughout the course of his career, going 4-3 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 14 starts. He pitched against them at Dodger Stadium earlier this season and allowed just four hits and one run in six innings while striking out eight.
The Dodgers starting rotation as a whole have been on a roll as of late, going 21-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 228 strikeouts compared to just 29 walks since April 25
Opposing Ryu is right-hander Taylor Clarke, who is pitching in just his fifth career MLB game (fourth start). The 26-year-old is 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA, 4.76 FIP and 1.27 WHIP with 11 strikeouts and five walks in 17.1 innings for the Diamondbacks this season. This is his first career outing against the Dodgers.
After getting the night off on Monday, both Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy return to the Dodgers lineup, which is bad news for the Diamondbacks considering they are two of the hottest hitters in the league.
Bellinger comes in sporting a 10-game hitting streak, slashing .300/.391/.600 with three home runs and eight RBI over that span. Meanwhile, Muncy is hitting .323/.400/.615 with seven doubles, four home runs, 18 runs scored and eight RBI in his last 17 games.
Corey Seager also comes in swinging a hot bat after getting off to a slow start to the season. He has hit .316/.422/.737 with four doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI in his last 11 games. He missed most of the 2018 season due to Tommy John and hip surgeries but is finally starting to resemble his pre-surgery self.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Joc Pederson
3B: Max Muncy
SS: Corey Seager
RF: Cody Bellinger
1B: David Freese
CF: Alex Verdugo
2B: Kiké Hernandez
C: Russell Martin
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
Diamondbacks lineup:
CF: Ketel Marte
3B: Eduardo Escobar
RF: Adam Jones
LF: David Peralta
1B: Christian Walker
2B: Ildemaro Vargas
SS: Nick Ahmed
C: Carson Kelly
P: Taylor Clarke
