Behind a blowout and close affair, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken the first two games against the St. Louis Cardinals and enter play Wednesday in position to complete a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.
Overall, the Dodgers are on a four-game winning streak as they continue to pace the Majors with 76 wins. L.A. is 36 games over .500 and 18 games ahead of the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, both of which are season highs.
What 12:10 p.m. PT start may lack in audience, it should make up for with intrigue as Dustin May makes a second career start. The young righty had a bit of a shaky finish to what was otherwise an encouraging MLB debut against the San Diego Padres last week.
May limited the Padres to one run through five innings but seemingly tired in the sixth and ultimately allowed four runs.
The Dodgers continue to evaluate May — as well as Tony Gonsolin — for potential roles come postseason play.
The Cardinals counter with Jack Flaherty, who is fresh off snapping a stretch of two and a half months without a win. Flaherty did so by firing seven shutout innings against the Chicago Cubs.
He earned a win against the Dodgers earlier this season as the Cardinals completed a sweep at Busch Stadium. The win was Flaherty’s firsts of his career in three matchups with the Dodgers.
When Flaherty pitched at Dodger Stadium last season, he collected 10 strikeouts and allowed just one run — on a Joc Pederson homer — over six innings. The Burbank, Calif., native is 5-6 with a 3.93 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 22 starts this season.
Although the hope was A.J. Pollock would return to the lineup, he remains limited to being available off the bench. Pollock has spent the past few days working through groin tightness.
Wednesday’s game is an exclusive online broadcast that can be streamed as the MLB Game of the Week on YouTube. A subscription is not required, nor are local blackout rules in effect.
Dodgers lineup:
RF: Joc Pederson
2B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Matt Beaty
1B: Edwin Rios
C: Russell Martin
P: Dustin May
Cardinals lineup:
CF: Dexter Fowler
RF: Tommy Edman
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
LF: Marcell Ozuna
SS: Paul DeJong
3B: Matt Carpenter
2B: Kolten Wong
C: Matt Wieters
P: Jack Flaherty
