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LOS ANGELES — Kenta Maeda faces a familiar foe on Saturday night as he takes the mound against the Diamondbacks in the second game of a four-game weekend wraparound series at Dodger Stadium.
Maeda faced the Diamondbacks six times in 2016, once every series, just the second Dodger with six starts in a season against Arizona. Chad Billingsley was the other, in 2010.
He was 3-1 with a 2.97 ERA in those six starts against the Diamondbacks last year, with 34 strikeouts and seven walks in 33⅓ innings. That included three quality starts in three home outings against them, and a 1.45 ERA against Arizona at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers face their sixth left-handed starting pitcher of the season in Patrick Corbin, and have made the usual lineup adjustments.
Kike Hernandez gets the start in left field. He is 3-for-9 (.333) with a double and a walk against Corbin. This is his fifth start of the season, having also started two games in center field and once at shortstop.
Starting lineups
| Pos | D-backs | Pos | Dodgers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | D-backs | Pos | Dodgers |
| CF | Hazelbaker (L) | 2B | Forsythe |
| RF | Peralta (L) | SS | Seager (L) |
| 1B | Goldschmidt | 3B | Turner |
| 3B | Lamb (L) | RF | Puig |
| 2B | Drury | 1B | Gonzalez (L) |
| LF | Descalso (L) | CF | Thompson |
| SS | Ahmed | LF | Hernandez |
| C | Herrmann (L) | C | Barnes |
| P | Corbin (L) | P | Maeda |
Yasiel Puig, the only Dodger to start every game this season, bats fourth on Saturday, looking to snap his 0-for-15 skid against left-handers to start the season.
Trayce Thompson is trying to snap is 0-for streak against everybody. Starting his second game in center field since getting recalled from the minors, Thompson so far in 2017 is 0-for-3 in the majors and 0-for-13 with two walks in Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Thompson is 3-for-6 against Corbin, with all the at-bats coming last season.
Asked where he might hit Jackie Robinson in his lineup, manager Dave Roberts smiled.
“I’d bat him leadoff tonight against Patrick Corbin, and I’d bat him leadoff again tomorrow,” Roberts said. “We wouldn’t platoon him.”
Austin Barnes gets the start at catcher, his third start in 12 games this season. Roberts said Yasmani Grandal would catch Sunday afternoon.
Arizona has David Peralta back in right field and Jake Lamb at third base, after both left-handers got Friday night off against Clayton Kershaw. Lamb is 7-for-15 (.467) with three doubles, a home run and a walk against Maeda.
In addition, left-handers Jeremy Hazelbaker and Chris Herrmann start in center field and at catcher, respectively, for Arizona.