It is no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers have struggled against the Arizona Diamondbacks this season. They enter play Wednesday night having lost eight of 11 games, and are coming off one that was in heartbreaking fashion.
Wednesday night’s matchup is the last meeting between the two teams until a four-game series at Dodger Stadium that begins Aug. 30. The final early-season game is a challenge for the Dodgers in that face Patrick Corbin.
The Diamondbacks’ lefty has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball thus far. Corbin heads into his start with a perfect 4-0 record in seven games, yielding a 2.15 ERA, 2.96 FIP and 0.76 WHIP. He has struck out an impressive 60 batters compared to just nine walks in 46 innings.
The Dodgers were not able to get to Corbin the first two times they face him this season. He is 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA and 0.53 WHIP, striking out 17 in 13.1 innings.
Opposing Corbin is another left-hander in Alex Wood, who is still searching for his first win of the season. The 2018 campaign has been much different than a year ago for Wood, when he started off 11-0.
Wood is 0-3 with a 3.83 ERA, 2.28 FIP and 0.93 WHIP on the season, so his record isn’t exactly indicative of how he has pitched. He has struck out 38 hitters while walking only five in 40 innings of work.
Wood has a 3.27 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in his two starts against Arizona, so he has had success against them despite not being able to get a win.
Matt Kemp comes into Wednesday’s matchup swinging a red-hot bat, going 13-for-26 with a home run and four RBI in his last six games. He leads the National League in hitting with a .353 batting average.
Yasiel Puig, who was activated off the disabled list, starts in right field and is batting seventh. Alex Verdugo was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move.
Also, the Dodgers recalled Scott Alexander and Brock Stewart from OKC, while optioning Yimi Garcia and placing Tony Cingrani on the 10-day DL due to left shoulder inflammation.
Alexander and Stewart may join in what’s been a futile effort to slow A.J. Pollock. His home run on Tuesday was the seventh in 11 games against Los Angeles this season.
Dodgers lineup:
SS: Chris Taylor
CF: Kiké Hernandez
LF: Matt Kemp
C: Yasmani Granda
1B: Cody Bellinger
2B: Austin Barnes
RF: Yasiel Puig
3B: Kyle Farmer
P: Alex Wood
Diamondbacks lineup:
LF: Chris Owings
SS: Nick Ahmed
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
CF: A.J. Pollock
RF: Steven Souza
2B: Ketel Marte
3B: Deven Marrero
C: Alex Avila
P: Patrick Corbin
