Ross Stripling starts opener for Dodgers vs. Marlins

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers open a four-game series against the Marlins, and send Ross Stripling to the mound in his fourth major league start, looking for his first major league win.

Stripling is coming off his worst outing in the majors, getting pulled in the fourth inning on Wednesday in Atlanta, but his other two starts were quality starts. He allowed three total runs in those games, including leaving with a no-hitter in the eighth inning in his debut, but to date the Dodgers have only scored two runs while Stripling was in the game, including none in his last two starts.

Wei-Yin Chen has quality starts in his last two outings — including 13 strikeouts in 13⅓ innings — but the Marlins have lost all three of his starts thanks to poor run support as well, scoring only three runs in his three starts while he was in the game.

Stripling has also allowed no home runs to date. Should he keep Giancarlo Stanton and company in the park on Monday, he will become just the fourth Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher to open his career with four straight starts without allowing a home run, joining Ramon Martinez, Kazuhisa Ishii and John Ely.

The Marlins have hit just 11 home runs this season, tied for 13th in the National League. The Dodgers aren't far ahead, in 12th place with 13.

Stripling has a 53.3-percent ground ball rate in his three starts, second only to Alex Wood on the staff, and so far his batting average on balls in play is just .234.

On ground balls, batters are 5-for-25 (.200) with a double against Stripling, and are 1-for-12 (.083) on fly balls.

I'm not sure if any sort of defensive shifting has aided or hurt Stripling, but to date the Dodgers are just 21st in frequency of shifting on defense, doing so in 12.0 percent of their opponents' plate appearances.

And here, from STATS LLC, is team-by-team shift data through Saturday. My apologies to all for any inconvenience. pic.twitter.com/QRrA5hqKaZ

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 25, 2016

Note

Former Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is 234-171 (.578) at Dodger Stadium in his career.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA