Dodgers Diamondbacks Game Three Preview

The Dodgers look to sweep Arizona out of LA before embarking on an east coast road trip.

The Dodgers beat up on another Diamondback starter yesterday, this time singling Shelby Miller to his demise. The offense put up 11 hits in each of the first two games against the Diamondbacks, and the pitching has limited Arizona to four runs in the two games combined.

The Dodgers have a four game lead in the West and 78 wins, which is the fifth most in all of baseball. This is despite having a whole roster full of players hit the DL and missing the best pitcher in baseball for two months. And all you people denied that their depth was a good thing. SMH.

They wrap up a series with the Diamondbacks today, the final time Arizona travels to LA this season. The Dodgers have a series in the desert later this month, but first they have a chance to sweep the Diamondbacks.

Dodgers Starter

Brock Stewart was recalled today and will start for the Dodgers. Stewart will be making his fourth start and fifth appearance for the Dodgers. His first two starts were really bad, as he allowed five runs in five innings in Milwaukee and nine runs in four innings in Colorado. The Milwaukee start was weird since he was dominant in four of the five innings, but his Colorado start was rough. He went back to the minors and came back, tossing three innings of relief against the Pirates and five innings of shutout ball against the Cubs.

Stewart was recently named the Dodgers’ minor league pitcher of the year. Stewart rose through the ranks quickly and posted a 1.79 ERA in 21 starts. He’s not nearly as highly touted as Julio Urias or Jose De Leon, but Stewart has given the Dodgers some quality innings this year and should be good rotation depth moving forward.

Diamondbacks Starter

Robbie Ray will make his 28th start of the season for the DBacks. Ray is very much a strikeout pitcher, as he has 183 strikeouts in 149.1 innings. However, Ray’s 4.46 ERA isn’t ideal (though his 3.51 FIP suggests he’s getting unlucky).

After a tough first start in August, Ray put together a solid month. In 22 innings from August 10th-25th, Ray allowed four runs and struck out 29 batters.

Ray has had a pair of successful starts against LA this season. The first came in April, when Ray held the Dodgers to two runs and four hits in 6.1 innings. In his last start against them, Ray shut the Dodgers out through seven.

Ray throws pitches with his left hand, which is not great for the Dodgers.

Dodgers Lineup

Oh dear lord.

The top part of the lineup seems mostly normal with a lefty on the hill. Enrique Hernandez will start most, if not all games against left handed pitching. Yasiel Puig is starting in right, and Carlos Ruiz was traded for to mash lefties.

Adrian Gonzalez has started every game since July 31st. It makes sense to get him a day off, especially before a road trip featuring a pair of tougher opponents. Rob Segedin will make his first start of the season at first.

Next: Dodgers 5 Diamondbacks 2

Charlie Culberson is the other weird starter. Chase Utley deserves off days against lefties, but I’d probably rather see Andrew Toles in left and Howie Kendrick at second. Or Austin Barnes at second. Culberson isn’t awful, but he’s a definite stand out in this lineup.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PST and will be shown on SNLA