News and Notes: Game Two

There are some changes to the lineup from Opening Day.

Here are the lineups from game one to game two, side by side:

Three things: Joc Pederson is not in the lineup, Kiké Hernandez is batting leadoff and Russell Martin is catching.

Pederson is one of the players being platooned this season and after his stellar start, he will be on the bench to start game two. Though he is not starting against left-handed pitcher Robbie Ray, he expected to face lefties in the very near future.

“[Pederson] is in a great place and he will be ready at some point, and in this game if it’s called for,” Manager Dave Roberts said.

Hernandez moved from batting seventh to leading off. This, too, is because of the pitcher on the mound for the D-backs. In his career against Ray, Hernandez has a .276 batting average with 1.072 OPS and three home runs. Roberts placed him up in the lineup because he hopes Hernandez’s experience against Ray will be beneficial, but it won’t be something we see very often.

“In this particular instance, it makes sense. Outside of today, I don’t see him anywhere outside of second or third,” Roberts said.

At the same time, Corey Seager dropped to fifth place because of his weak performance against the

Lastly, Martin is making his first regular season game at Dodger Stadium since his return to the organization.

Injured list updates

Clayton Kershaw will be pitching a three-to-four inning simulated game tomorrow afternoon. Based on how he feels after throwing, he will likely see a four-or-five inning rehab assignment with Tulsa or Oklahoma City. But, they are taking his recovery at a slow pace.

“We understand the long view and we want him healthy to help us and to help himself,” Roberts said.

Rich Hill and Tony Cingrani are both doing well and making progress, Roberts said.