Dodgers Rays Game One Preview

The Dodgers open up their interleague schedule with a two game series in Tampa Bay.

Following one of the worst weeks in recent Dodger history, the Dodgers look to bounce back in their first interleague series of the season.

The Dodgers’ offense was completely awful last week as they managed 12 runs in seven games against San Diego and Miami. They won the final game of the homestand thanks to Clayton Kershaw. Usually, that means Kershaw tossed a shutout and the Dodgers squeaked by with a run. This was true, but Kershaw also drove in the run.

Interleague play begins with a two game series at Tampa, a place the Dodgers haven’t played since 2007. This series is the first leg of a home-and-home between the two teams, as the Rays will come to Los Angeles for the first homestand after the all-star break. The two teams last met in 2013, which was ironically also the last season in which the Dodgers had a six-game losing streak before last week.

Game one puts Scott Kazmir on the hill against the team he spent the first six years of his career with. He’s made 73 starts in his career at Tropicana, 71 of which came as a member of the Rays. He holds a 27-18 record and a 3.64 ERA in those 73 starts and has allowed three runs in 10 2/3 innings in starts at the Trop as a member of the visiting team.

Kazmir has allowed at least one run in the first inning in three of his five starts this season, so that first inning could be something to look for. Two starts ago, Kazmir kept the Rockies off the board in the first, but they put up four on him in the next five innings. In his last start against Miami, Kazmir gave up two in the first, but only allowed three hits over the next five innings and finished with an impressive six inning outing, but got the loss because the Dodgers couldn’t get anything going against Justin Nicolino.

Matt Moore gets the ball for the Rays for the sixth time this season. He’s gone at least five in every outing and has gone more than six in four of the five outings, so if he can finally stay healthy he could be a real workhorse for the Rays. The Rays won his first three starts even though Moore only got one decision, but they’ve lost his last two outings. This is his first time facing the Dodgers.

It’s always weird seeing a DH in the Dodger lineup, but it’s very beneficial today as Kazmir couldn’t even swing a bat in his last outing due to a thumb injury. That plus a lefty on the hill makes for a very strange lineup.

Joc Pederson gets his first start against a lefty this year. The Dodgers denied that he was a platoon player, but it sure seemed that way to start the season. The most versatile player on the team is DHing, so that’s a bit weird. Corey Seager gets the day off with Charlie Culberson starting at short, and A.J. Ellis catches Kazmir for the second time this year.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA