Freeway series: Anaheim Edition starts tonight

The Dodgers conclude their eight-game road trip with their shortest by distance opponent of the season. The Dodgers come into Angel Stadium with the best record in Major League Baseball and their 45-21 record is the best ever for a Los Angeles Dodger team after 66 games.

The Angels and Dodgers each had 8-8 records this season. However since then, the Dodgers went 37-13 while the Angels have a 23-27 record. Mike Trout is doing Mike Trout things. Trout is hitting .296/.469/.626 with 17 home runs.

In a trade that hopefully won’t be worst than Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio (at least for the Cubs) the Angels acquired Tommy La Stella for player to be named later in November 2018.

La Stella is having a great year and that could be underselling it. He is hitting .315/.371/.549 in 236 plate appearances. He has 15 home runs, 16 walks and 18 strikeouts so far this season.

Finally, you will see the two best teams at not striking out from their respective leagues. The Dodgers have struck out 515 times, the lowest in the National League.

The Angels have struck out a Major League low 419 times. The gap between the Angels and Dodgers is larger than the gap between the Dodgers (MLB No. 4 lowest team in strikeouts) and the Rays, who ranked 25th with 609 team strikeouts.

Game one: Hyun-jin Ryu (9-1, 1.35 ERA) vs. Griffin Canning (2-2. 3.52 ERA)

Monday, June 10 - 7:07 p.m. PDT

Hyun-Jin Ryu will start the first game of the short series against Griffin Canning. Ryu has eight straight starts of six innings or more. In those starts, he has given no more than two runs and one walk. He has pitched 19.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Ryu currently leads or tied for first in the majors in ERA, wins, strikeouts to walks ratio and lowest walks per nine innings pitched.

Ryu has not faced the Angels since 2017. In his three starts against the Angels, he is 2-0 and has a 0.83 ERA in 21.2 innings pitched.

Griffin Canning was the Angels 2nd Round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. Canning pitched at UCLA and he was born in nearby Mission Viejo in South Orange County.

Canning made his Major League debut on April 30, 2019 and he has started all of seven of the games he has pitched. He has pitched five or more innings in five of those seven starts.

Canning has given up seven home runs in 38.1 innings pitched for an average of 1.6 per nine innings pitched. But his 42 strikeouts gives him nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

Game two: Kenta Maeda (7-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Félix Peña (3-1, 4.53 ERA)

Tuesday, June 11 - 7:07 p.m. PDT

Kenta Maeda will take the mound in game two, making his 13th start of the year. In his last start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he tossed five innings and only allowed one earned run from two hits and a walk. He sat down seven batters in his outing — his second most this season. His season high 12 strikeouts came on Apr. 15 against the San Diego Padres.

After a rocky start, Maeda has leveled out to quietly become one of the strongest starting pitchers on the Dodgers’ rotation.

Another right-handed pitcher will take the mound on the other side, with Félix Peña to face Maeda. The 29-year-old will make his first start since Apr. 19. His last outing out of the bullpen wasn’t pretty, giving up seven earned runs to the Oakland A’s in 1 ²⁄₃ innings. In total, he allowed eight hits and two walks in this performance.

In his two four appearances against the Dodgers (two starts), he has a 0-0 record and 2.19 ERA.