After splitting the first two games at Great American Ball Park, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds now take the field for a rubber match.
Even with Saturday’s loss, the Dodgers are 10-5 in their last 15 games and haven’t dropped a series since losing two of three to the San Francisco Giants from April 30-May 1.
They figure to be in good hands as Hyun-Jin Ryu takes the mound with an opportunity to build on what’s been a string of dominant starts. In his last four outings, Ryu has gone 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA, held opponents to a .157/.164/.222 batting line and completed at least seven innings each time out.
He turned in a complete-game shutout against the Atlanta Braves and followed that with eight scoreless innings against the Washington Nationals on Mother’s Day. Ryu carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of that start and threw a career-high 116 pitches.
As a result of the Dodgers using off days to tinker with their rotation, the 32-year-old is starting on six days’ rest, which manager Dave Roberts said he wasn’t concerned about potentially leading to rust.
The Reds counter with Tanner Roark, who the Dodgers became familiar with during his days pitching for the Nationals, facing him twice in 2015, and one each in 2016 and 2018. The veteran right-hander enters 3-2 with a 3.50 ERA this season.
Roark has issued a minimum of two walks in seven of his nine outings, which could feed into the Dodgers’ hands. However, he’s only allowed two home runs across 46.1 innings pitched.
L.A. receives a boost to their lineup as Justin Turner returns. He did not start Saturday due to a bruise and swelling that formed as a result of fouling a pitch off his shin during the series opener.
Although Turner finished the at-bat, passed testing in the dugout and played an additional two innings in the field, he ultimately was removed early because a welt the size of a baseball began to form. Turner appeared as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning on Saturday and grounded out to end the game.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Joc Pederson
1B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
RF: Cody Bellinger
SS: Corey Seager
CF: Alex Verdugo
2B: Kiké Hernandez
C: Russell Martin
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
Reds lineup:
CF: Nick Senzel
1B: Joey Votto
3B: Eugenio Suarez
RF: Yasiel Puig
SS: Jose Iglesias
LF: Jesse Winker
2B: Jose Peraza
C: Curt Casalli
P: Tanner Roark
