The Los Angeles Dodgers had a frustrating September opening against the St. Louis Cardinals, but they have a good shot at bouncing back on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd.
The Dodgers lost 13-8 to the Cardinals on Tuesday, in a game where each reliever, other than Kike Hernandez, allowed a home run.
It was a brutal day of pitching for LA, and while there were some solid at-bats, it continued a trend of ugly baseball for the Dodgers.
However, they get a chance to move on and get their march to October back on track.
Dodgers’ Lineup vs. Cardinals
1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Tommy Edman, CF
3. Mookie Betts, SS
4. Freddie Freeman, 1B
5. Miguel Rojas, 2B
6. Kyle Tucker, RF
7. Teoscar Hernandez, LF
8. Max Muncy, 3B
9. Hunter Feduccia, C
The Dodgers are facing a lefty in Brycen Mautz, who has pitched six innings and has a 9.00 ERA.
Naturally, the Dodgers will be going righty-heavy, with Betts going up the order along with Teoscar Hernandez getting counted on.
Additionally, Miguel Rojas gets a platoon start, and Max Muncy gets a rare start against a lefty.
If LA can produce similar at-bat quality to what they showed on Tuesday, the Dodgers will be in a good spot.
Who is pitching for the Dodgers?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is exactly the pitcher that the Dodgers need on a night like Wednesday. He should give them length after a heavy bullpen usage game on Tuesday, while keeping the team in the game as long as the offense helps him a bit.
Yamamoto is really getting a good feel for his pitch mix recently and adjusts quite quickly after the first few batters.
He remains one of the most cerebral pitchers in baseball, and his wide variety of looks gives him a good amount of danger for opposing hitters.
The Japanese righty usually doesn’t get much run support, but that does not mean he won’t help the Dodgers win games.