The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres face a quick turnaround on what’s getaway day for both teams. But whereas the Padres will make the quick drive south, the Dodgers will board a flight to embark on a six-game road trip.
The Padres enter Thursday’s matinee affair looking to earn a series split at Dodger Stadium. With it being a day-after-night game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts elected to give Yasmani Grandal and Justin Turner their first rest of the season.
That slides Logan Forsythe over to third base, and puts Chase Utley at second. The outfield remains unchanged from Wednesday night, though Yasiel Puig is batting seventh, as opposed to eighth.
On the mound for the Dodgers, Brandon McCarthy makes his regular season debut. The right-hander went 1-2 with a 5.65 ERA in five starts this spring. McCarthy allowed at least two earned runs in four of the five outings, though pitched relatively well and felt he executed ‘across the board’ in his final spring tuneup.
McCarthy faced the Padres once last season, in what was his second start of the year after returning from Tommy John surgery. He allowed three runs on three hits, issued a trio of walks and struck out six in five innings.
The Padres counter with Jered Weaver, who went 12-12 with a 5.06 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in an 11th and final season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. San Diego signed Weaver to a one-year contract in February.
The veteran right-hander continues to lack in velocity, throwing a fastball that hovers in the low 80s, but he’s offset it by relying more heavily on a two-seamer and off-speed pitches. Weaver is 6-3 with a 2.66 ERA in 11 career starts against the Dodgers.
Forsythe, Joc Pederson and Corey Seager have all homered off Weaver, with Forsythe (5-for-16), Adrian Gonzalez (4-for-13) and Utley (4-for-10) enjoying career success against him.
Travis Jankowski is back to leading off for the Padres, but the hitter to watch is Yangervis Solarte. He enters 3-for-12 with one home run and three RBI, though did go 0-for-4 Wednesday night.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Andrew Toles
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Logan Forsythe
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
CF: Joc Pederson
2B: Chase Utley
RF: Yasiel Puig
C: Austin Barnes
P: Brandon McCarthy
Padres lineup:
LF: Travis Jankowski
CF: Manuel Margot
1B: Wil Myers
2B: Yangervis Solarte
3B: Ryan Schimpf
RF: Hunter Renfroe
C: Hector Sanchez
SS: Erick Aybar
P: Jered Weaver
