The San Diego Padres came to Dodger Stadium on Friday with a rebuilt lineup and a new closer looking to bridge the gap between them and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they were quickly reminded why they are more than a dozen games back in the National League West.
The Dodgers routed the Padres, 8-1, in the first game and they now have a chance to win the series and extend their lead in the division to 14.5 games. But despite the Padres’ receiving a ton of attention after their busy trade deadline, the Dodgers aren’t focused on that and want to approach each game one at a time.
Andrew Heaney takes the ball for the middle game of the weekend series. Heaney has been highly effective this season, posting a 0.77 ERA and 2.30 FIP with 34 strikeouts, but he has been limited to just 23.1 innings due to shoulder issues.
The southpaw has been on a pitch count in an attempt to keep his shoulder healthy, so he wants to be more efficient with his pitches to pitch deeper into games after going four innings in each of his previous two starts.
This start is also the first time this season Heaney will have made three consecutive starts, so he’s hoping that will help him find some rhythm and become more effective with his pitches.
“I need to just get myself in a routine and get into it,” he said last week. “I haven’t pitched more than two games in a row this year, so just want to get into that flow.”
The Padres counter with Mike Clevinger, who has also been having a strong season but has been limited by injuries. The right-hander has posted a 3.13 ERA and 3.61 FIP across 60.1 innings with 59 strikeouts.
Clevinger has also gone seven innings in each of his previous two outings and six in another, giving up four runs total, following a rough start to July where he gave up eight runs in 11.1 innings. He owns a career ERA of 3.18 over 602.2 innings with 662 strikeouts.
Joey Gallo makes his second start since being traded to the Dodgers.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
SS: Trea Turner
1B: Freddie Freeman
DH: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
2B: Gavin Lux
LF: Joey Gallo
CF: Cody Bellinger
C: Austin Barnes
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