:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54974857/687507190.0.jpg)
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal is behind the plate on Friday night, looking to continue one of the finest months of his career.
Grandal is hitting .292/.359/.496 on the season with five home runs and 15 walks in 41 games. Over at FanGraphs, Travis Sawchik — who had Grandal seventh on his NL MVP ballot, the lone vote Grandal received — wrote about Grandal’s exceptional 2017 earlier Friday.
Starting lineups
| Pos | Cubs | Pos | Dodgers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Cubs | Pos | Dodgers |
| LF | Zobrist (S) | 3B | Forsythe |
| 3B | Bryant | SS | Seager (L) |
| 1B | Rizzo (L) | C | Grandal (S) |
| CF | Happ (S) | 1B | Gonzalez (L) |
| C | Contreras | CF | Taylor |
| RF | Heyward (L) | LF | Bellinger (L) |
| 2B | Baez | 2B | Utley (L) |
| SS | Russell | RF | Puig |
| P | Arrieta | P | Wood |
Grandal this season already has 13 doubles, his average of the last two full seasons, and just six shy of his career high, set in 2014 with San Diego. Nine of those doubles have come in May, two more than he has hit in any other month of his career.
So far in May, Grandal is hitting .364/.400/.591 with 15 RBI in 18 games.
He is 1-for-6 in his career with two walks against Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, and the one hit was a two-run home run hit in Game 3 of the 2016 NLCS.
After not starting on Thursday night, Logan Forsythe is back in the Dodgers’ lineup on Friday, leading off and playing third base. Forsythe started at third base Tuesday and Wednesday in his first two games back off the disabled list, then played the final three innings on defense at second base on Thursday.