Los Angeles Dodgers looking to follow up blowout win
By Jason Reed
After a successful 10-game homestand, the Los Angeles Dodgers traveled across the country and gave the fans in Miami an offensive showcase.
The Los Angeles Dodgers started off a six-game road trip exactly how a World Series-caliber team should with a blowout win over the Miami Marlins. While it is unfair to always expect that kind of play out of the Dodgers, the 15-1 win over the last-place Marlins showed the talent gap between the two sides.
The Dodgers have now won all four games against the Marlins this year and look to make it five with Clayton Kershaw on the bump on Wednesday. Kershaw was initially supposed to get the start on Tuesday but was bumped back a day and Dustin May was given the start.
Kershaw was great in his last outing versus Miami, striking out 10 batters in six shutout innings. The Dodgers have to like their chances of moving to 5-0 against the Marlins with a chance of the season sweep on Thursday.
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Getting a road sweep over the Marlins would be great for the team’s momentum as well as they have a big series against the Atlanta Braves over the weekend. The Dodgers swept the Braves at Dodger Stadium and now have a chance to prove their NL supremacy with a series in Atlanta.
The Braves are arguably the Dodgers’ biggest threat to win the National League Pennant and have bolstered the bullpen. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
But for now, the Dodgers have to focus on the Miami Marlins. Young right-hander Elieser Hernandez gets the ball for Miami and was not good in his lone appearance against the Dodgers this year. In just two-thirds of an inning, Hernandez allowed four runs on four hits.
That is seemingly a good sign that the Dodgers can have another offensive outburst on Wednesday. As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can knock at least one of those base hits.
Jason’s pick (Current streak: 3): Joc Pederson
There was one omission from the Dodgers’ slugfest on Tuesday night in Joc Pederson. As one of the most prolific power hitters on the team, it was a surprise to see Pederson go hitless in a game that produced so many runs.
In reality, this reflects the kind of season that Pederson has had so far. After a hot start in which every Dodger fan bought back into the slugging left-hander, Pederson has not been terrific with a .239 average and .828 OPS.
The OPS is not terrible and Pederson’s .332 on-base percentage is still decent. However, since the start of June, Pederson has a .210 average, .293 on-base percentage, a .648 OPS and just seven home runs. He has more strikeouts than he does hits.
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Hopefully, Pederson can turn the card over on Wednesday and at least provide some sort of pop off of Hernandez. It might not be the smartest pick because of the trends, but I am trusting my gut.