Dodgers Diamondbacks Game Two Preview

The Dodgers look to redeem themselves in their second home game of the season.

After another disappointing, bullpenny loss, the Dodgers send Alex Wood to try to stop the bleeding against the Diamondbacks.

Wood was the worst of the Dodgers’ starters the first time through the rotation, and that was more due to the excellence of the starting pitching through five games than Wood. Wood cruised through four innings before giving up three runs in the fifth and putting two runners on in the sixth, both of whom scored off Yimi Garcia. The third time through the order tends to be a bugaboo for many young pitchers, and last year batters slashed .306/.364/.444 their third time facing Wood. His delivery is deceptive, but it seems like after seeing it a few times, the hitters are able to key in on it and hit him harder. Letting Wood face 18 batters and then pulling him isn’t the worst idea, but the Dodger bullpen is not where it needs to be right now and running them out there for four or five innings seems like a poor winning strategy.

The Diamondbacks counter with former Dodger prospect Rubby De La Rosa. DLR was a former Dodger top pitching prospect, but was part of the trade that brought Adrian Gonzalez to LA. He fumbled around Boston for a while before being traded along with a pair of other prospects to Arizona for Wade Miley.

De La Rosa had an even worse 2016 debut, as he allowed six hits and seven runs (six earned) against the Cubs on April 7. Rather than throw a normal bullpen session between starts, De La Rosa pitched an inning in relief two days later and struck out two in a perfect eighth inning. Despite only 71 combined plate appearances against current Dodgers, five different players have taken De La Rosa deep (Howie Kendrick, Justin Turner, Joc Pederson, Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal).

All five of the aforementioned players are in the lineup tonight. Grandal makes his first start of the season after pinch hitting in the home opener yesterday. Kendrick returned to the lineup yesterday and had a Kendrick-line opposite field single while playing solid defense. As great as Chase Utley looked early on, having Grandal and Kendrick back in the everyday lineup should make a potent offense even more dangerous. One way to help the bullpen out is to give them bigger leads to work with. Kendrick is making his 21st career start in left with the previous 20 coming in 2011, so that should be interesting.

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