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Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak Selections — April 30

By Jason Reed

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - APRIL 28: Chris Taylor #3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers steals second base beating the throw down to Brandon Crawford #35 of the San Francisco Giants in the top of the fifth inning during game one of a doubleheader at AT&T Park on April 28, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - APRIL 28: Chris Taylor #3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers steals second base beating the throw down to Brandon Crawford #35 of the San Francisco Giants in the top of the fifth inning during game one of a doubleheader at AT&T Park on April 28, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Dodgers continue the longest road trip of the season with yet another series in Arizona on Monday night.

The Los Angeles Dodgers seemingly turned a slow start around after taking two of three against the Washington Nationals and finally snapping the team’s losing streak against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

However, that ultimately was not the case as the Dodgers lost two straight to the Miami Marlins, who won its first series in the process, and dropped three of four to the San Francisco Giants.

Now, as the Dodgers head into the last game of April with a 12-15 record and seven games back of the division-leading Diamondbacks. This four-game series is going to be the biggest one of the season thus far, as the Dodgers will only play the Diamondbacks in two more games before finally playing them again in late August-early September.

A series win can turn the season around and reduce that gap to five or three games. A series loss would expand the gap to nine or 11 games. If the teams split the series, the lead will remain at seven.

This is huge for the Dodgers, who desperately need to find momentum. However, it is also big for our Beat the Streak series, as we both try and gain some momentum.

Sunday’s picks:

Only one of our selections on Sunday actually registered an at-bat on Sunday. I selected call-up Alex Verdugo to get a hit in his second game of the season. However, Verdugo never got a plate appearance, keeping my streak in the exact same position.

As for Sarah, she went for shortstop Corey Seager, who responded with a 1-4 day. It was not a great showing at the plate but was good enough to extend her streak. In fact, 1-4 days seem to be the most common outcome for Seager thus far.

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Sarah’s pick (Current streak: Three): Chris Taylor

My pick for today is Chris Taylor. Taylor has been great lately, especially during Saturday’s doubleheader. Tonight, the Dodgers face a very strong team in the Arizona Diamondbacks but could see a version of Zack Greinke that isn’t yet at Cy Young caliber.

I’m getting pretty worried about the Dodgers. The “it’s April” saying we tell ourselves won’t comfort us for much longer, and when that happens, the Dodgers will have a lot of work to do. I do however believe that Taylor will get the ball rolling for the Dodgers tonight in a potential win over Arizona.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: Two): Alex Verdugo

I am sticking to my guns with the Alex Verdugo hype train as I think he will come up not only with a hit, but a big extra-base hit that will bring in some runs for the Dodgers.

Verdugo’s smooth stroke naturally will find gaps in the outfield and will likely make him a .300 hitter once he gets into the swing of things at the big-league level. Against Zack Greinke, Verdugo will rope a low fastball into the right-center gap for a standup double.

Next: Remembering each starter's first start

Greinke will not know how to approach Verdugo and will pay for it during the game. Being familiar with everyone else on the Dodgers and their strengths and weaknesses, I think Verdugo has the highest chance of getting a base knock on Monday night.

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