The Dodgers are really hurting right now, in more ways than one. The loss of multiple pitchers to injuries, the cuts of long-time popular teammates in Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor, and being swept at home by the Angels — something that hasn’t happened in a three-game series since 2010.
There are some bright spots, however. Tommy Edman has returned from his injury stint, and the Dodgers called up the highly regarded prospect, catcher Dalton Rushing. Both should give the lineup more length, and pop. Max Muncy has nine RBI over his last seven games, seemingly out of his horrific slump. Teoscar Hernandez is also expected to rejoin the lineup as early as Monday.
That lineup is going to have to do some heavy lifting if the Dodgers want to garner some wins. Their upcoming schedule is rough – three with Arizona, then an East Coast trip to play the New York Mets and Cleveland Guardians, then back home to play the New York Yankees, and the Mets again.
The biggest issue as Dodgers fans know, is the precariousness of the pitching staff. Clayton Kershaw came back at the right time, essentially replacing Roki Sasaki in the rotation. Landon Knack has been thrown in as the fifth starter, hopefully being able to go at least through five innings to help the beleaguered bullpen. But Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May have all been shaky in their last starts, leading manager Dave Roberts to have to repeatedly dip into the bullpen earlier than he had hoped.
The Arizona series will be tough. The Diamondbacks offense hit well against the Dodgers pitching in the four-game series in Arizona just over a week ago. The starters had mixed results in the last series -Yoshinobu Yamamoto was tagged for five earned runs, doubling his pristine ERA at the time. But May allowed only two earned runs over 6â…” innings of work, and Gonsolin held them scoreless through five.
Neither Brandon Pfaadt nor Corbin Burnes allowed any runs in their outings against the Dodgers, and the D-backs took both of those games. The Dodgers will face both pitchers again this time through, starting with Pfaadt Monday night.
The Dodgers offense has been a roller coaster, where they have a huge explosion of runs, followed by very few runs, over and over again.
L.A. will send Knack to the mound to face Pfaadt. Knack only went 4⅔ innings in his last outing against the Oakland A’s, allowing five earned runs.
Monday game info
Teams: Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks
Stadium: Dodger Stadium
Start time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)