Dodgers Nationals Game Three Preview

The Dodgers look for a win on getaway day in the finale against the Nationals.

Do we have to touch on yesterday’s game? Nothing good happened. The Dodgers couldn’t hit or pitch. Today is a new day, and hopefully an opportunity for them to win.

Julio Urias has been recalled for today’s start. It’s unknown how many more starts he will make as he’s thrown 78 innings so far this year, only nine shy of his previous career high. To further complicate things, Urias last started a game on July 4th. He was sent back down to the minors and threw one inning of relieg on July 10th, so he’s basically thrown one inning in two weeks. Great way to keep his innings down, not the best way to build his arm up for the future workloads he will endure.

Urias had a very up-and-down stint as a starter the first time around. After two terrible performances to start his career, Urias had six straight starts allowing two or fewer runs. His final start against the Orioles didn’t go very well and he was shipped back down with a career 5.20 ERA in 36.1 major league innings. One of his good starts came against these Nationals, as he allowed two runs in five innings in a game the Dodgers won on Yasiel Puig‘s walk off little league home run/error. Urias is getting dangerously close to the 50 innings/45 days service time required to lose rookie status, thus ending the Dodgers likelihood of starting another stretch of Rookie of the Year winners (Corey Seager this year, Urias next year, Jose de Leon or Cody Bellinger the next year and Alex Verdugo the following year is my plan).

Stephen Strasburg gets the ball for the Nationals after missing the series in LA earlier this season. His 13-0 record would probably have a loss if he didn’t miss his matchup with Clayton Kershaw in that series, but Strasburg could be the Cy Young favorite if Kershaw misses too much time. The Nationals have won 16 of his 17 starts and he has thrown 15 quality starts in 17 outings this year. His 2.51 ERA/2.91 FIP is very strong, and it’s scary to think what he could have gotten on the open market in this extremely weak pitching class of free agency. The Nats locked him up so we will never know.

Corey Seager is still out of the lineup with illness. Hopefully he’ll be back and good to go in St. Louis, but while Chris Taylor has filled in solidly, the lineup is just that much worse without him

Yasiel Puig gets the day off against Strasburg. You cannot look at an outfield of Howie Kendrick, Joc Pederson, Andrew Toles and still think trading Puig is a good idea.

Urias needed to be added back onto the roster, and it’s safe to assume he won’t pitch more than five or six innings, so they needed an arm in there. Zach Walters and Charlie Culberson were sent down, and Chris Hatcher was placed on the 60-day DL. He won’t be eligible to return until the middle of September.

Grant Dayton gets his first call to the big leagues after parts of seven seasons in the minors. The 28-year-old lefty has been a machine this year, striking out 85 of the 183 batters he’s faced in 48 innings. I’d be surprised if Urias made too many more starts with the Dodgers this season as they try to keep his arm safe, but the Dodgers have three off days in between the next nine games, so they could maneuver things and run a four-man rotation until the first week of August.

Next: A Look at the Seager Brothers

First pitch is scheduled for 9:05 AM PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.