Yasmani Grandal, Joc Pederson return to Dodgers lineup in finale with Reds

Yasmani Grandal returns to the Dodgers starting lineup on Thursday morning, going for a sweep of the Reds on Thursday morning in Cincinnati, after missing three games with a sore left shoulder.

Grandal hasn't played since Saturday, sitting out the last three games and, coupled with Monday's off day, four days. He spent doing drills and taking batting practice, getting ready for a return.

The injury first cropped up on Aug. 13 when the Reds were in Los Angeles, and since then Grandal is 1-for-13 and is in a 3-for-30 slump dating back to Aug. 7.

"[Grandal] said what started with trapezius muscle discomfort spread to his neck, back and rib cage as he compensated while trying to hit," wrote Ken Gurnick at MLB.com.

The switch-hitting Grandal is batting seventh against right-hander Anthony DeSclafani in the series finale. All 15 of Grandal's home runs this season have come hitting left-handed.

Joc Pederson is also back in the starting lineup in center field after sitting in each of the last four games, though three of those games featured left-handed starting pitchers. This is Pederson's 96th start against 97 right-handed starting pitchers this season.

Pederson on the season is hitting .217/.370/.466 with 20 home runs and 67 walks against right-handed pitchers, and overall in the last 18 games has the super-weird line of .135/.441/.324, with a .441 on-base percentage in spite of a 5-for-37 slump with two home runs and a double.

On Aug. 16 at Dodger Stadium, Pederson homered against DeSclafani, the first of back-to-back home runs with Zack Greinke that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 win over the Reds.