The Dodgers are one win into their final push against the Giants, and Saturday brings a different look to the lineup.
Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy are both sitting with a left-hander on the mound, leaving Teoscar Hernández at first base and Miguel Rojas at third. It’s a lineup tweak, but the bigger story is the arm taking the ball for Los Angeles: Blake Snell is back after 10 days away and set to make what will be his final start before the postseason.
Snell’s last outing came on Sept. 16, when he was pulled after one inning because of groin tightness. At the time, he said he was trying to be careful and avoid making the issue worse, and the Dodgers appear to have handled it that way. Now he’s back on the mound and still riding a sharp stretch since returning from midseason elbow surgery.
In seven starts since that return, Snell has gone 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA, piling up 47 strikeouts in 35.2 innings. That’s the version of Snell the Dodgers need as they close in on the regular season finish line. They’re already locked into the No. 2 seed in the National League and sit two wins shy of 100.
The lefty on the other side is Matt Wilkinson, who gave the Dodgers trouble last weekend with five scoreless innings and six strikeouts in what was his best performance of the season. Since his MLB debut on Aug. 19, Wilkinson has made seven appearances, five of them starts, and owns a 3.65 ERA with 18 strikeouts and four walks over 24.2 innings.
Los Angeles opened the series Friday with a 2-0 win behind Tarik Skubal and home runs from Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages. Afterward, manager Dave Roberts didn’t hide his appreciation for Skubal’s night.
“That was the best we’ve seen,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Skubal. “He was on a mission tonight.
You could see it. Everything was working.
He just went after those guys and did a fantastic job. Pounded the zone.
Everything was working tonight.”
First pitch for Dodgers-Giants on Saturday, Sept. 26 is set for 1:05 p.m. PT/4:05 p.m.
ET. The game will air on SportsNet LA and in the MLB app, with radio coverage on AM570 in English and KTNQ 1020 AM in Spanish.
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