Propelled by Walker Buehler’s dominating outing and Matt Beaty’s ninth-inning heroics, the Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a 4-2 walk-off victory in the series opener against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.
The win increased the Dodgers’ lead over the second-place Rockies to 11 games in the National League West. The club additionally improved to 7-3 over their last 10 contests while Colorado is contrarily 6-4 during the span.
A win on Saturday would mark the Dodgers’ 10th in a row against the Rockies, which would set an all-time franchise record. They enter play tied with the 2003-04 clubs that won nine in a row over Colorado.
And in position for a series victory, the Dodgers send Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound for his 15th start of the season. An Early Cy Young favorite, the left-hander enters with an incredible 9-1 record, 1.26 ERA, 2.51 FIP and 0.82 WHIP in 93 innings pitched.
Ryu is in the midst of another stellar stretch, having allowed just one earned run over his last four starts. He was tabbed with a tough-luck no-decision in his last outing against the Chicago Cubs, yielding just two unearned runs in seven innings of work.
Saturday marks Ryu’s first start against the Rockies this season. In his career against Colorado, he owns a 4-6 record, 4.97 ERA and 1.52 WHIP with 49 strikeouts and 15 walks across 50.2 innings pitched (10 appearances).
Ryu has dominated at Dodger Stadium this season, having posted a minuscule 0.87 ERA and 0.70 WHIP in 51.2 innings. He owns a perfect 6-0 when pitching at his home ballpark and has accumulated 53 strikeouts against two walks in seven overall outings.
The Rockies counter with right-hander Peter Lambert, who makes his first career start against the Dodgers. He enters with a 2-0 record, 6.00 ERA, 3.90 FIP and 1.27 WHIP over his first three Major League appearances.
After thriving in the first two starts of his big league career, Lambert was peppered in his out recent outing against the San Diego Padres. He allowed eight runs on nine hits in just three innings of work, but wasn’t pegged with a loss after his club managed to produce 13 runs in the contest.
Saturday marks just the second road start for Lambert — his first since debuting against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was a successful outing at that, as he yielded only one run on four hits over seven innings pitched.
Joc Pederson is making a second consecutive start and appearing in a third overall game at first base. He’s been working to learn the position in effort to improve his chances of remaining in the lineup once A.J. Pollock returns.
A subplot to Saturday’s game is Chad Fairchild coming from behind the plate to umpire at third base. Fairchild ejected Turner over a belief balls and strikes were being argued, marking a second time he’s thrown the Dodgers’ third baseman out of a game.
Dodgers lineup:
1B: Joc Pederson
CF: Alex Verdugo
3B: Justin Turner
RF: Cody Bellinger
2B: Max Muncy
SS: Chris Taylor
LF: Matt Beaty
C: Russell Martin
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
RF: Charlie Blackmon
CF: Ian Desmond
LF: David Dahl
3B: Nolan Arenado
1B: Daniel Murphy
C: Chris Iannetta
2B: Ryan McMahon
SS: Brendan Rodgers
P: Peter Lambert
