Having won three in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers now look to guarantee themselves at least a series split with the Colorado Rockies in their first — and only — visit to Coors Field this season.
The Dodgers are relying on a bullpen game for a third time in the past week, with Alex Wood serving as the opener. It’s a role that previously was filled by Brusdar Graterol in what were the first two starts of his young MLB career.
Of course for Wood, it’s a small step toward the role he expected to fill upon reuniting with the Dodgers. However, Wood managed to make just one start before landing on the 10-day injured list because of left shoulder inflammation.
He missed more than one month and at the time of being activated, returned for a role out of the bullpen. Although Wood has confidence in his ability to be a starter going forward, he’s accepted the change for this season.
The 29-year-old is 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in six games (one start) this season. He last pitched five days ago, throwing a scoreless inning out of the bullpen against the Houston Astros. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is hopeful to get two innings from Wood.
The Dodgers added a fresh arm to bullpen by recalling Mitch White and optioning Josh Sborz.
Colorado counters with Ryan Castellani, who has dealt with some inconsistencies in a rookie season. Castellani was coming off a relief appearance when he first faced the Dodgers earlier this month.
It was an outing the right-hander would like to forget, as he allowed four runs on six hits, three of which were home runs, in 4.1 innings. Despite the shaky performance on a personal level, the Rockies notched a comeback win to hand the Dodgers their only series loss of the season.
Castellani is 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in eight games (seven starts) this season. He faces a Dodgers lineup that sees the return of AJ Pollock after he was held out to further recover from minor hamstring tightness.
However, Justin Turner, who was the designated hitter in his three games back from the 10-day injured list for his own hamstring issue, is not in the lineup.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Chris Taylor
1B: Max Muncy
CF: Cody Bellinger
DH: AJ Pollock
3B: Edwin Rios
2B: Gavin Lux
C: Austin Barnes
Rockies lineup
DH: Raimel Tapia
SS: Trevor Story
3B: Nolan Arenado
RF: Charlie Blackmon
CF: Kevin Pillar
1B: Josh Fuentes
LF: David Dahl
C: Elias Diaz
2B: Ryan McMahon
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