Spring Training Preview: Bobby Miller Starts For Dodgers Against Guardians

The Seoul Series is just over one week away as the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will face off in South Korea starting on March 20.

For now, the Dodgers have three more Cactus League games remaining, including Monday’s matchup against the Cleveland Guardians, before they depart for the Korean Peninsula.

Bobby Miller takes the mound for his third start of Cactus League play. Miller is coming off three scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels his last time out and should continue building up further.

In five innings overall this spring, Miller has not racked up a lot of strikeouts with just one in each game but has induced plenty of weak contact. Especially in his last start against the Angels, where Miller had three times as many groundball outs as he did for balls in the air.

Gus Varland and Justin Wilson are expected to pitch for the Dodgers as well once Miller exits.

Gavin Lux is once again at second base after looking a lot more comfortable in the field on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Continuing to stack clean days in the field could be what he needs to get Lux confidence back up.

It has been quite a smooth return at plate as he is currently hitting .346/.414/.346 with three walks and six runs scored. The pop isn’t quite there yet as Lux has yet to collect an extra-base hit, but he is seeing the ball well.

Tristen McKenzie is on the mound for the Guardians, making his second start of Spring Training. The promising young right-hander for Cleveland had an injury plagued 2023 campaign that saw him only able to throw 16 innings.

It was a tough break for a player who had a really good 2022 season in which he had a sub-3 ERA, almost 200 innings pitched, and almost 200 strikeouts. He enjoyed a good start to his spring last time out with a clean two innings pitched along with two strikeouts.

This is the second time these two teams have met in Cactus League play, with the Dodgers winning the last matchup 6-4.

Dodgers Lineup

2B: Gavin Lux
3B: Kike Hernández
CF: James Outman
RF: Teoscar Hernández
SS: Chris Taylor
C: Austin Barnes
LF: Miguel Vargas
DH: Chris Owings
1B: Kevin Padlo

Guardians Lineup

LF: Steven Kwan
RF: Ramón Laureano
3B: José Ramírez
1B: Josh Naylor
CF: Tyler Freeman
2B: Andrés Giménez
C: Austin Hedges
DH: David Fry
SS: Angel Martínez

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