The Los Angeles Dodgers have taken the first two against their Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Giants, and they have an opportunity to finish out a big sweep on Wednesday night and become the second team in the Major Leagues to reach 30 wins this season.
For the Dodgers to achieve both of those goals, they’ll have to rely on their bullpen to carry them through the night. L.A. is putting together a bullpen game on Wednesday night in the hopes of stealing a day of rest for their starters. The Dodgers are midway through a stretch of 13 straight gamedays with their next true off say coming on May 23.
Prior to a game, the Dodgers added a pair of pitchers to their roster with Eduardo Salazar and Elieser Hernández replacing Gus Varland and Nabil Crismatt. They join a bullpen that includes Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Michael Grove and Ryan Yarbrough.
It’s the latter, Yarbrough, that is expected to take on the bulk of the innings on Wednesday.
Yarbrough has been exceptional for the Dodgers as a long reliever. He has tossed 31.2 innings over 12 appearances — averaging around 2.2 innings per outing — and has compiled a 2.56 ERA, a 0.726 WHIP, 5.1 hits per nine innings and an impressive 1.4 walks per nine.
However, four of the nine runs he has given up this season came against the Giants on April 2. Yarbrough has a 1.65 ERA this season if that one outing against the Giants is removed. Hopefully, he can avoid a repeat performance and stick to his trends in every other game this season.
It’s Hernández who gets the start after being added to the roster for the first time this season. He has appeared in six games (five starts) for Triple-A Oklahoma City and is 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.
He was a part of the Miami Marlins for five seasons, going a combined 10-21 with a 5.04 ERA in 90 games (48 starts). He was originally signed by the Dodgers on January 12, 2024 as a Minor League free agent.
On the mound for the Giants is Logan Webb. Webb’s 3-4 record is more of a statement on the Giants’ lackluster offense than it is his work, as he has been one of the franchise’s best pitchers over the last five years. This season, he has 3.38 ERA and 1.387 WHIP with 42 strikeouts in 53.1 innings. His 115 ERA+ is his lowest since 2020, but a 2.89 fielding-independent pitching (FIP) suggests some bad luck.
Webb stands in the middle of the Dodgers’ opportunity to sweep the Giants and move to 30-15 on the season.
Dodgers Lineup
SS: Mookie Betts
DH: Shohei Ohtani
1B: Freddie Freeman
C: Will Smith
LF: Teoscar Hernández
3B: Max Muncy
RF: Andy Pages
2B: Gavin Lux
CF: James Outman
Giants Lineup
RF: Mike Yastrzemski
2B: Thairo Estrada
3B: Matt Chapman
1B: Lamonte Wade Jr.
DH: Wilmer Flores
LF: Heliot Ramos
C: Blake Sabol
CF: Luis Matos
SS: Casey Schmitt
