Both teams enter the game slumping, but the Angels are broken right now. The Dodgers are always tough at home and even tougher against interleague teams when they’re under .500. The Angels have struggled to score of late and nobody has scored off the Dodgers’ starter Gonsolin all year.
The Angels are in the worst slide of any team in all of baseball. Previously 24-14 at this time last month, Los Angeles endured a 14-game slide that led them to fire manager Joe Maddon. They’ve won two of their past four games, but are an anemic 2-16 in their past 18.
A big reason the team has struggled is that the pitching staff has given up the 10th most runs in all of baseball and has the 17th ranked ERA (3.92) in the MLB.
But of late, an offense that once ranked near the top five in almost every major category has scuffled. The Angels have scored three runs or fewer in 12 of their past 18 games and two runs or fewer in nine of them.
Also, don’t look now, but it’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Dodgers as well. Los Angeles had a chance to gain some ground in the NL West at home, but instead got swept in a three-game series by rival San Francisco over the weekend.
It’s the third separate three-game losing streak in the past two weeks as the Dodgers are now 4-9 in their previous 13 games. A big part of the reason is some key pieces in the offense have gone cold.
Over the past week Mookie Betts (2-for-26), Justin Turner (3-for-26), Cody Bellinger (4-for-23), Chris Taylor (3-for-16), and Max Muncy (3-for-14) are a combined (15-for-105) with just five runs scored.
When thinking about the Dodgers pitching staff, most people think about three players. Future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw, Cy Young caliber Walker Buehler or former win leader Julio Urias.
Lost in all of it, is Tony Gonsolin, who is having one of the best seasons of any pitcher in baseball. Gonsolin is a perfect 7-0 in his 11 starts, posting a 1.58 ERA (which would be second among starters if he had enough innings to qualify) and 0.86 WHIP (which also would be tied for second).
Gonsolin doesn’t go that deep into games – he’s yet to pitch into the seventh inning this year – but he’s extremely consistent. The 28-year-old righty has thrown exactly six innings in each of his past six starts, giving up two runs or fewer and four hits or fewer in each outing.
The Angels will counter with Noah Syndergaard who has had an interesting year in his first season in Los Angeles.
Syndergaard’s numbers look pretty good on the surface with a 3.69 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, but his underlying numbers are nowhere up to where they used to be with his strikeout rate falling all the way to 5.83 K/9.
He’s been a mixed bag in his past four starts with two great outings (giving up two earned runs in 14 combined innings) and two awful outings (giving up nine runs in just three combined innings).
For the Dodgers, the X-factor is the player who’s been the hottest on the team for the past week, left-fielder Gavin Lux. Lux is 9-for-16 (.563) over his past six games, with a .611 OBP and 1.424 OPS.
For the Angels, of course you can always think about Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani, but one of their best players on the road has been Anthony Rendon. The third baseman is 20-for-63 (.317) away from home, with a .416 OBP and .908 OPS.
Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers Information | |
Teams | Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers |
Location | Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California |
Time | Tuesday, June 13, 10:10 p.m. EST |
How to watch | Fox Sports West, TBS MLB.TV |
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