The Los Angeles Dodgers had their four-game win streak snapped in disheartening fashion Tuesday thanks to the Chicago Cubs. The two teams return to action Wednesday in the third of their four-game series at Dodger Stadium.
Alex Wood starts for the Dodgers. The lefty will try to build upon his solid past two starts, where he has allowed three runs over 11.2 total innings. After his performance against the New York Mets Friday, Wood said he saw ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ after what he described as the worst stretch of his career.
Wood still has a 4.13 ERA on the season, to go along with a 3.32 FIP and 1.18 WHIP over 80.2 innings while going 3-5 in 15 starts.
He has been fairly successful against the Cubs in his career, going 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 27.2 career innings. He has also made one postseason start against them, taking the loss in the only Chicago victory of the 2017 National League Championship Series.
The Cubs send right-hander Kyle Hendricks to the mound. Hendricks has regressed from the Cy Young-caliber form he showed in 2016 and into 2017 but still remains a solid starter. He has a 5-7 record over 15 starts this season, with a 3.73 ERA, 4.60 FIP and 1.17 WHIP.
He is 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA and 0.70 WHIP in three career starts against the Dodgers. Most notably, however, he shut Los Angeles down in the series-clinching Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS, allowing two hits and no runs over 7.1 innings.
Hendricks had less success in the following season’s rematch, though. He gave up four runs (three earned) over five innings in Game 3 of the 2017 NLCS. He took the loss to now-teammate Yu Darvish in that one.
Joc Pederson returns to the Dodgers’ lineup after sitting out Tuesday’s game against Cubs lefty Jon Lester. Pederson had a mostly quiet stretch in the Dodgers’ recent road trip. However, he did bookend it with solo home runs on June 19 and 24.
Matt Kemp is out of the Dodgers lineup as he is serving his one-game suspension from his altercation with Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos earlier this month. He appealed the suspension, but the appeal was denied.
While the Dodgers will be without Kemp, the Cubs welcome back their closer and former Dodgers Brandon Morrow. He missed the last 10 days with a back injury.
Meanwhile, Javier Baez looks to continue his Dodger-killing ways. The Cubs infielder hit two home runs against Ross Stripling Tuesday, including a grand slam to open up the Cubs’ lead. He also hit two home runs off Wood in the aforementioned 2017 NLCS game.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Joc Pederson
1B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
SS: Kiké Hernandez
C: Yasmani Grandal
RF: Yasiel Puig
2B: Logan Forsythe
P: Alex Wood
Cubs lineup:
CF: Albert Almora Jr.
RF: Jason Heyward
2B: Javier Baez
C: Wilson Contreras
LF: Ben Zobrist
SS: Addison Russell
3B: David Bote
1B: Ian Happ
P: Kyle Hendricks
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