Dodgers Brewers Game Three Preview

The Dodgers look to carry over the momentum from their walk off win last night in game three against Milwaukee.

Justin Turner was the only Dodger bat doing any damage yesterday, and the Brewers STILL intentionally walked TWO batters to face him. Sure, it set up an inning-ending double play and got a righty-righty matchup. But that was a dictionary definition of overthinking it.

Julio Urias tossed five great innings last night, which would be manageable if the rest of the rotation could eat innings. However, the night before, Scott Kazmir only went four innings and Mike Bolsinger, today’s starter, hasn’t completed six full innings in any of his five starts so far this season.

Bolsinger’s averaging five innings a start, and his arm isn’t as precious and valuable to the Dodgers long term, so this isn’t due to him being on a pitch count. He’s allowed at least two runs in every outing this season, but has also only allowed more than three runs once. Basically, Bolsinger is good for five innings and three runs. The Dodgers have surprisingly had a bullpen that can make that work, but scoring more than three runs seems like a lot to ask these days.

Chase Anderson gets the ball for the Brewers, and he’s been hot of late. Anderson had a 6.44 ERA on May 5, but since then has seen it drop to 4.21. A bad outing in San Francisco last time out raised it to 4.42, but entering that game Anderson had gone at least five innings and allowed three runs or fewer in six consecutive starts. The Dodgers are a bit familiar with him from his time in Arizona, where he posted a 3.51 ERA in six starts against the Dodgers.

Both Bolsinger and Anderson came up in the Diamondback farm system. They were teammates in AA-Mobile in 2012 and AAA-Reno in 2013, and apparently became close friends. Before last season, the Dodgers purchased Bolsinger from Arizona, and before this season the Diamondbacks traded Anderson and Aaron Hill to Milwaukee for Jean Segura.

Joc Pederson starts in the leadoff position for the first time this season, although he has two plate appearances in the leadoff spot. 311 of his 585 plate appearances last season came in the leadoff spot, and he hit 16 homers and had a .216/.325/.437 line. Chase Utley isn’t in the lineup, so Howie Kendrick moves to his normal spot at second, with Justin Turner at first and Enrique Hernandez in left.

Next: Can Turner Spark the Dodgers?

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.