The Los Angeles Dodgers open the second half of the regular season with a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium.
Entering play with a 56-41 record, the Dodgers sit atop the National League West and in a good position going forward. Prior to the All-Star break, they had lost seven of their last 10 games.
In July, the Dodgers are 4-8, posting a collective 6.56 ERA as a pitching staff in 104.1 innings. That mark is the worst in Major League Baseball, encapsulating the bevy of injuries they’ve endured in the starting rotation and bullpen.
Gavin Stone has been a rock for the Dodgers this season and he gets the ball on Friday for his 18th start of the season. The 25-year-old owns a 3.26 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, with a .664 on-base plus slugging allowed to opposing hitters.
Stone ranks in the 90th percentile of barrel rate, a product of his expanded pitch mix with the addition of a sinker and a cut-fastball. He’s shown a bit of fatigue recently, allowing eight earned runs on 16 hits over his last two starts (5.2 combined innings).
He’ll need to be a big piece to the middle of the Dodgers’ rotation, facing a scrappy Red Sox offense that features Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran from the left side. Duran is fresh of helping the American League team to a win that earned him 2024 MLB All-Star Game honors.
The Red Sox counter with Nick Pivetta making his 15th start of the season. The 31-year-old has a 4.18 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a .709 OPS allowed to opposing hitters.
Over his last seven starts, Pivetta is 2-2 with a 4.28 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. His prior start came on July 10 against the Oakland Athletics, when he surrendered four earned runs on six hits, tallying 10 strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
The Dodgers rank second in the league against right-handed pitching on the season, but without Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, their complete grade in these matchups is a step back. They’ll have to outhit the Red Sox, as they’ve posted the fourth-best team wRC+ (116) in the American League since the start of July.
Miguel Vargas is starting in left field despite the Dodgers facing a right-hander.
Dodgers lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
C: Will Smith
1B: Freddie Freeman
RF: Teoscar Hernández
CF: Andy Pages
SS: Miguel Rojas
2B: Gavin Lux
LF: Miguel Vargas
3B: Chris Taylor
Red Sox Lineup
CF: Jarren Duran
2B: David Hamilton
LF: Tyler O’Neill
3B: Rafael Devers
DH: Masataka Yoshida
RF: Wilyer Abreu
1B: Dominic Smith
SS: Ceddanne Rafaela
C: Reese McGuire
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