Diamondbacks Final Series in LA Kicks off Tonight

Game one of a five game series between the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers kicks off tonight in Dodger Stadium at 7:10 P.M. MST. The teams will play a double header tomorrow and single games on Wednesday and Thursday.

Merrill Kelly (12-6, 3.01 ERA) and left hander Clayton Kershaw (8-3, 2.44 ERA) will square off once again in a rematch of the game played September 13th at Chase Field. That game resulted in a 4-0 Dodger shutout of the D-backs. Kelly gave up three runs early, but settled down to last five innings and keep his team in the game. But there was no answer for Kershaw as he dominated for seven shutout innings allowing just two hits.

To say Kelly has struggled in his career against the Dodgers would be an understatement. He is 0-8 with a 5.81 ERA in 11 starts against them since 2019, including 0-3 with a 6.84 ERA in five starts at Dodger Stadium. Kelly has been bit by the long ball of late. After allowing just 10 home runs through his first 27 starts he's allowed five in the his two outings.

LINEUPS

Jordan Luplow is back in the lineup tonight to give it another go and see if he can help generate offense against left hand pitching. Since being re-called from AAA Reno he is 0-7 with a walk and a strikeout, dropping his season triple slash to .157/.256/.362. He is likely being evaluated by the team to see if they want to tender him a contract for the 2023 season in the same role as a right handed bench bat.

Kershaw doesn't have much of a negative split in his career however and actually has a lower OPS against against right hand batters (.544) compared to left hand batters (.581) in 2022. Rookie sensation Corbin Carroll will start the game on the bench.

The Dodgers record is 101-44. After losing to the D-backs the night after clinching the NL West, they swept the Giants three straight at Oracle Park and clearly are not coasting through the rest of the season.

The Diamondbacks have fallen back to 10 games under .500 at 68-78, dashing any hopes of a .500 season. They began a very difficult September schedule by going 4-1, but are 3-9 in their last 12 games.

The Dodgers hold an 11-3 advantage in the season series, and are 35-8 against the D-backs since 2020. Suffice to say the Diamondbacks are looking forward to the balanced schedule next year, reducing head to head matchups from 19 down to 13.