Brandon Pfaadt, Diamondbacks set sights on Dodgers

After the Arizona Diamondbacks just missed out on a series victory over the Dodgers at home earlier this month, they will get another crack at the World Series champions when they arrive in Los Angeles this week.

The Diamondbacks will open a three-game series Monday by sending right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (6-3, 3.73 ERA) to the mound.

Pfaadt was dominating over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a win over the Dodgers at home on May 8. He struck out six while working his way around four hits and three walks.

In five lifetime starts against Los Angeles, Pfaadt is 3-2 with a 4.73 ERA. He struck out 10 in a game at Los Angeles on Sept. 1 of last season.

The 5-3 Arizona victory over Los Angeles two weeks ago with Pfaadt on the mound came in the opener of a four-game series in the desert. The Diamondbacks won two of the first three games of the series before dropping an 8-1 decision in the finale.

Arizona has gone 4-2 since with series, with two wins over both the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies.

The Diamondbacks rebounded from a wild 14-12 loss to the Rockies on Saturday with a more tame 1-0 victory Sunday. Merrill Kelly gave up one hit over seven innings with a season-high 11 strikeouts on Sunday, while Starling Marte hit a homer in the first inning.

As if getting swept by the last-place Los Angeles Angels over the weekend wasn’t enough for the Dodgers, they are in the midst of pitching chaos, with a number of key starters and relievers on the injured list.

Not only is the rotation missing Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki, the back end of the bullpen is missing nearly all of its primary arms with Kirby Yates the latest to go on the injured list Sunday. Among the relievers already on the injured list were Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips.

“It’s not sustainable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of how he has been forced to use the bullpen. “I personally just look at each night and try to figure out who’s available and how to try to win the game, cover the game, protect players. … I think that our starters will gain some traction and start going deeper, because we certainly need it (for) the pen.”

Right-hander Landon Knack (2-1, 5.89) has taken over a rotation spot and is scheduled to take the mound Monday for his sixth appearance and fifth start of the season. He had two starts against the Diamondbacks as a rookie last season and went 0-1 with a 4.82 ERA.

Pitching isn’t the only area of upheaval for the Dodgers of late, with veterans Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor both removed from the roster in a span of four days. Taylor was released Sunday.

The team cut ties with both players to make room for catcher Dalton Rushing — the team’s No. 1 prospect — and infielder Hyeseong Kim, both of whom have shown promise following their major league debuts this month.

“It’s a really delicate balance of figuring out the right way to handle the stability and continuity vs. infusing some new guys,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Each year, we try to find the right balance. But this wasn’t something coming into the year that we said, ‘OK, we think in May, this is what’s going to happen.’ It’s just the way things played out.”

–Field Level Media