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The Dodgers are back home for another showdown series against a juggernaut National League West foe, and pitching will be the story as the Diamondbacks coming to town. Here is a look at the pitching matchups and the schedule for this three-game series at Dodger Stadium.
Tuesday, 6:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)
Clayton Kershaw gets the call in the series opener, an early start on the July 4 holiday. He is 8-2 with a 1.97 ERA in 10 starts against the NL West the season, including 1.83 in five such home starts with 39 strikeouts and three walks.
We talk a lot about pitching the the third time through the order -- and specifically how the Dodgers mostly avoid it — but Arizona lefty Patrick Corbin seems to be the opposite this season. He gets better as the game goes on, but mostly because he’s got nowhere to go but up. First time through the batting order, Corbin this season is getting torched to the tune of .290/.347/.573.
Separately, batters leading off an inning in 2017 against Corbin are hitting .315/.344/.522.
Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA, MLB Network)
Alex Wood started each of the last two springs in the bullpen, and was starting no later than the second week of the season, so waiting around for his All-Star nod should be nothing new. Wood has allowed zero or one run in seven of his last eight starts.
Zack Godley hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his 10 starts this season. He has 59 strikeouts in 64 innings to go with his career-best 59-percent ground ball rate.
Thursday, 7:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA)
Rich Hill is looking like his old new self with back-to-back seven-inning starts, and struck out a career-high 11 on Saturday in San Diego.
Correction: Arizona’s Sunday game notes listed Zack Greinke as the Thursday starter, but it will be in fact left-hander Robbie Ray, which makes more sense because otherwise Ray would have been skipped.
Ray, who like Greinke made the NL All-Star team, has a 1.81 ERA and 69 strikeouts in his last eight starts.