The Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off their first home win of the season after they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1, on Wednesday night after they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alex Wood went seven innings while only allowing one run on five hits and Kenley Jansen completed the first five-out save of his career.
Los Angeles now turns to Ross Stripling in the three-game series finale against the Diamondbacks. The rookie right-hander is making his first start since an impressive Major League debut. Stripling threw 7.1 innings against the San Francisco Giants without allowing a hit before being removed by manager Dodgers Dave Roberts.
After having Tommy John surgery in 2014 and only throwing 71.1 innings last season, Stripling was on a pitch limit and Roberts decided to remove him after 100 pitches. Things went south for the Dodgers after Stripling’s exit as Chris Hatcher gave up a game-tying home run to Trevor Brown.
The Giants went on to defeat the Dodgers in extra innings behind a Brandon Crawford walk-off home run. Despite dropping the first game of the series, the Dodgers have found recent success at home against the D-Backs as they are 16-5 against their National League West counterparts at Dodger Stadium since 2014.
What’s more, the Dodgers have not lost a home series to the Diamondbacks since June 2013. Arizona sends left-hander Robbie Ray to the mound in search of his first win of the season. Ray pitched well in his lone 2016 outing, as he allowed two runs on four hits in six innings in a walk-off win against the potent Chicago Cubs.
The lefty has a record of 2-2 with a 2.28 ERA against the Dodgers for his career. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner is not in the lineup for the finale after getting hit by pitches twice Wednesday night, including one on the left hand. X-rays on his left hand came back negative, but Roberts said he wanted to give Turner a day off for resting purposes.
With Turner out, Howie Kendrick gets the nod at third base. It’s the third different position Kendrick has started at in as many games. He was reinstated from the disabled list on Tuesday.
The Dodgers will need to offset the production lost from Turner’s bat, though they collectively lead the Majors with 92 hits and 24 doubles while ranking fourth in the NL with a .280 team batting average. In addition to the hot start on offense, the Dodgers’ starting pitchers have a combined 4-1 record with a 2.40 ERA, which is good for second in the Majors.
Dodger starters are also first in the Majors in both opponent’s batting average (.180) as well as WHIP (0.87). Los Angeles recalled Adam Liberatore from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed Chris Hatcher on the paternity list prior to Thursday’s game.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Kiké Hernandez
RF: Yasiel Puig
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
3B: Howie Kendrick
SS: Corey Seager
CF: Trayce Thompson
C: A.J. Ellis
2B: Austin Barnes
P: Ross Stripling
Diamondbacks lineup:
2B: Jean Segura
CF: Socrates Brito
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
RF: David Peralta
LF: Brandon Drury
3B: Jake Lamb
C: Chris Hermann
P: Robbie Ray
SS: Nick Ahmed
