The Los Angeles Dodgers begin a six-game road trip Friday against Kyle Freeland and the Colorado Rockies. Both clubs enter the matchup 3-1 this season, which is tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West.
Freeland is one of four left-handed starters the Dodgers will face on the road trip. They draw one in the opener and finale of both three-game series. Manager Dave Roberts views the road ahead as an opportunity to squash the “narrative” that his club can’t hit southpaws.
Franklin Gutierrez predictably is in the lineup, starting in left field and batting second. But so too are Kiké Hernandez at shortstop and Scott Van Slyke at first base. Joc Pederson starts in center field, which is different from Tuesday’s game when he was not in the lineup against Clayton Richard.
One day after explaining why he wouldn’t have a knee-jerk reaction to Yasiel Puig’s hot start this season, Roberts has the 26-year-old batting cleanup. Though, that’s more indicative of the circumstance, and not necessarily Puig slugging three home runs in his past two games.
He’s batting .417/.563/1.250 with one double and five RBI through four games this season. Beyond lineup changes, Friday’s game is of note for the Dodgers as Hyun-Jin Ryu makes just his second regular-season start in three seasons.
Ryu put together a strong spring, pitching to a 2.57 ERA and showing good command and movement with his pitches to earn a spot in the rotation. He’ll be backed by an eight-man Dodgers bullpen, with the addition of Josh Fields.
He replaced Rich Hill on the active roster, as the left-hander landed on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to April 6) due to a blister on his left middle finger.
Dating back to the ninth inning of Tuesday’s loss, Dodgers relievers combined to throw eight shutout innings. Overall this season, the group has allowed just two runs in 13 innings and has 12 strikeouts to two walks.
Comparatively, the Rockies bullpen held the Milwaukee Brewers to three runs in 14.1 innings, and collected 19 strikeouts while walking seven.
The 23-year-old Freeland is making his MLB debut. He 2-2 with a 3.48 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in six games (four starts) during the spring. One of the starts came against the Dodgers, when Freeland was knocked around for four runs (three earned) on two hits in two innings.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Logan Forsythe
LF: Franklin Gutierrez
3B: Justin Turner
RF: Yasiel Puig
1B: Scott Van Slyke
C: Yasmani Grandal
SS: Kiké Hernandez
CF: Joc Pederson
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
Rockies lineup:
CF: Charlie Blackmon
2B: DJ LeMahieu
RF: Carlos Gonzalez
3B: Nolan Arenado
SS: Trevor Story
1B: Mark Reynolds
LF: Stephen Cardullo
C: Dustin Garneau
P: Kyle Freeland
