The Dodgers (77-52) won the opening game of their weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays (64-64) in spectacular fashion with Shohei Ohtani He hit a walk-off grand slam to secure his place in the 40/40 club. He also did it in the fewest number of games played, 126, well ahead of the previous record of 147 games set by Alfonso Soriano. In addition, the only other left-handed batsman in the 40/40 club Barry Bonds in 1996. 50/50 could be possible, as it was with Ohtani. He has 33 games left to score ten of both, while the Dodgers hope to gain some space in the NL West. They’re 11-3 in their last 14 games, and have won five in a row. They’ve put some ground between themselves and Arizona (73-56) and San Diego (73-57). Clayton Kershaw will be on the mound for the Dodgers and will make his sixth start this year, against the young right-hander Taj Bradley.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:10 | Los Angeles | ||
| 1B | Diaz | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | B. Lowe (L) | RF | Betting |
| 3B | Path | 1B | Guest of Honour (L) |
| 2B | Morel | LF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Carlson (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| CF | DeLuca | C | Blacksmith |
| RF | J. Lowe (left) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| SS | Knights | CF | Edman (S) |
| C | Jackson | SS | Red |
| P | Bradley (Right) | P | Kershaw (L) |
Tommy Edman added two more hits last night and continued to show his value with four hits and three runs scored in four games. He will be back in center field tonight with Miguel Rojas starting as shortstop. Kiké Hernandez started at third base last night and had two hits, one of which was the three-run home run to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Max Muncy will start tonight against right-hander Bradley.
For the Rays, meanwhile Junior Caminero is a monster. The 21-year-old hit a 100 MPH four-seamer over the zone of Bobby Miller and hit it to right-center field. He had three of the hardest hit balls of the game last night, at 109.2, 111.0 and 112.6. He looks like the unanimous top-three candidate of the game. The Rays have made a few additional changes, namely the recently acquired Dylan Carlson in the game over Jose Siri. Carlson had an OPS of .515 and a wRC+ of 51 in 59 games with the Cardinals this season, but with the Rays he has an OPS of .804 and a wRC+ of 134.
——
This is how Bradley and Kershaw compare.
Bradley suffered a loss in his last appearance in Oakland after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks with just two strikeouts in six innings, continuing a rough stretch that has now seen him lose four games in a row. Prior to this stretch, he had been one of the better pitchers in baseball over the past two months. He suffered a strained pectoralis major in the spring that delayed his season debut until early May, but a month into the year he hit his stride. He went through a nine-start stretch in which he allowed just five earned runs in 55 innings pitched, resulting in a 0.82 ERA, 2.50 FIP, 0.89 WHIP, and 65 strikeouts while allowing just a .161 batting average. That continued through late July, where he has now allowed 18 earned runs in his last 20.0 innings, has an 8.10 ERA, a 6.22 FIP, a 1.75 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts with nine walks. His true talent obviously lies somewhere in between. A potentially concerning trend is that he did this to some extent last year as well, with a 7.11 ERA in his last 13 starts.
He tops out at 90 mph with his four-seam fastball, throwing a sub-90 mph splitter 28.3% of the time as his primary offspeed pitch. He also throws a sub-90 mph cutter 20.4% of the time, meaning you’ll almost always see Bradley over 90 mph. Just to keep hitters honest, he only throws a curveball 10% of the time, averaging 79 mph. He’s only 23 years old and was a very highly rated pitching prospect, and he has the chops and control to dominate almost every time he steps on the mound.
Kershaw had his best outing of the season in his last outing, allowing four hits and a walk with two strikeouts in six scoreless innings in St. Louis. He didn’t produce many swing-and-miss balls, but he did produce plenty of soft contact and induced two double plays. Hopefully that was a sign that he’s really settled in after offseason shoulder surgery. He had a bit of a rough outing in San Diego, allowing three earned runs in 3.2 innings, but has shown great results since then. In his last three starts and 16.1 innings pitched, he’s allowed just two earned runs while recording 13 strikeouts with three walks. So far, he’s hitting a career-low fastball velocity of just 90.0 MPH, down from 90.7 MPH last year, which was near his average over the last few seasons. He can clearly survive that rate, especially since he only throws the four-seamer 34.7% of the time, so as long as he can maintain his current limited rate, he should be fine. He’s getting fewer misses, being chased less, and therefore obviously allowing more contact this year, but the results have been good so far. Eventually I’d like to see more swing-and-miss, but right now the team just needs quality performances and that’s what he’s been providing lately.
——
It seems unlikely that money is a big motivating factor for Kershaw at this point, but assuming he hits the 10-start mark, a $20 million player option could be tempting.
This is fun, the Korean and Japanese calls at last night’s Grand Slam were electric.
The recovery of the UCL seems to be going well.
Whether it is true or not, in my head they slowly play Tyler Glasnow and we’re getting him ready to make a few more starts before the postseason. He just needs to be fit and healthy for October.
——
The first pitch is at 6:10 p.m. on SNLA.
