Dodgers rotation depth set for next test

The Dodgers get to continue testing their pitching depth in the final two games of their series against the Brewers in Milwaukee, beginning with Joe Wieland making his Dodgers debut on Wednesday night at Miller Park.

With off days dwindling, Brandon McCarthy done for the year (and on some powerful post-surgery medication), and Hyun-jin Ryu still playing the waiting game, the Dodgers will need their fill-in gang to pitch more and more in the next month or so.

To date, the Dodgers have used four different pitchers to start five games outside of their planned starting five coming into the season. The club is 3-2 in those games, with mixed results from the starters.

In the most general sense, the ones with options - Mike Bolsinger and Carlos Frias - have outperformed the ones without - David Huff and Scott Baker - though we are only talking about five starts total here. The group collectively has combined to allow 12 runs on 27 hits in 26 innings (a 4.15 ERA), with 18 strikeouts and eight walks.

In 2014, the Dodgers were 11-14 in the 25 games started by those outside of their planned five,  with a 5.22 ERA, with 72 strikeouts and 45 walks in 120⅔ innings, an average of 4.82 per start.

The club will blow by that 25-start mark easily this season, and the ongoing question all season will be do the Dodgers have enough depth to handle the load? So far, so good, but the real test is coming.

Wieland and Frias, part of the with-options group, start the final two games against the Brewers lineup that is averaging just 3.26 runs per game this season.

That Milwaukee offense has scored just 10 total runs in the five starts by Wily Peralta this season, all losses for the Brewers. Peralta is 0-4 with a 4.35 ERA, but has seen his strikeout rate fall this year to just 13.4 percent, down from 18.4 percent in 2014, when Peralta won 17 games.

Game info

Time: 5:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA