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LOS ANGELES — Rich Hill makes his final start of the regular season on Wednesday night against the Padres, part of what has been a collective group effort by Dodgers starting pitchers in 2017.
This is the 25th start of the season for Hill, the fourth Dodgers starter to reach that mark this year, along with Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood and Kenta Maeda. Hyun-jin Ryu will make his 24th start of the season on Friday.
Dodgers teams with no 30-start pitchers
| Year | Start leader | Starters ERA |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Start leader | Starters ERA |
| 1931 | Vance (29) | 4.00 (5th) |
| 1935 | Mungo (26) | 4.15 (5th) |
| 1937 | Hamlin/Frankhouse (25) | 4.09 (7th) |
| 1943 | Higbe (27) | 3.89 (7th) |
| 1952 | Erskine (26) | 3.84 (4th) |
| 1957 | Drysdale (29) | 3.20 (1st) |
| 1981* | Valenzuela (25) | 2.77 (2nd) |
| 1994* | R.Martinez (24) | 3.00 (4th) |
| 2017 | Kershaw (26) | 3.36 (1st) |
But for the first time in a non-strike season since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers won’t have a single pitcher make 30 starts. In 1957, the club’s final year in Brooklyn, Don Drysdale led the Dodgers with 29 starts, one of seven pitchers with 10 starts.
If Yu Darvish starts Sunday in Colorado, this year’s team will have seven pitchers make at least 10 starts. All nine Dodgers pitchers to make at least two starts in 2017 have spent at least one stint on the disabled list, and four pitchers have had multiple DL trips.
Kershaw will lead the 2017 team with 27 starts, and with 171 innings heading into Saturday’s outing, will be the only pitcher on the team to qualify for the ERA title, too (the requirement is one inning per team game). Alex Wood is second with 152⅓ innings.
This is just the second season in franchise history in which the Dodgers only have one pitcher qualify for the ERA title. The first year was 2016, when Maeda was the only one to do it.
Hill struck out nine in six innings in Friday’s division clincher, and in four September starts has a 2.45 ERA with 30 strikeouts and six walks in his 22 innings. Opposing batters this month are is hitting .158/.238/.276.
Game info
Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
TV: SportsNet LA, ESPN*
*Adam Amin and Jessica Mendoza will call the game for ESPN, whose broadcast will be blacked out in the Los Angeles market.