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While the Los Angeles Dodgers have shored up their leaky division lead for the time being, they will head into a three-game home series against the Tampa Bay Rays looking to solidify their rotation for the path ahead.

Dodgers right-hander Bobby Miller will take the mound in the series opener Friday night looking to deliver on the promise that had him listed as one of the organization’s rotation mainstays moving forward. Instead, a disappointing season has cast doubt on his prospects.

After their National League West lead was sliced to two games, the Dodgers have used a 5-1 stretch to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by four games heading into Friday’s play.

Miller (1-3, 8.02 ERA) will make just his second start since returning from a demotion to Triple-A, and Los Angeles will need to see more than what he showed in his latest appearance. On Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the hard-throwing Miller gave up four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 5-2 loss.

Having shown command issues earlier this season, Miller walked just one batter against the Cardinals. But he struck out just one and gave up two home runs in an opportunity that was afforded him when Tyler Glasnow went on the injured list with a sore elbow.

“It’s just hard to pitch from behind, and he was behind hitters all night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It took him three or four innings to find some semblance of a breaking ball. He couldn’t land a curveball (for a strike). … The changeup was a ball out of hand, and then he started to get a little feel for it, but at that time I thought he was out of gas.”

Miller has yet to face the Rays in his career.

The Dodgers made a roster move Thursday, activating the versatile Chris Taylor (groin) from the injured list while outfielder Jason Heyward was designated for assignment. The move strips the Dodgers of a vital team leader and clutch performer down the stretch in Heyward.

The Rays will counter on Friday with Tyler Alexander (5-3, 5.17 ERA), who will not follow an opener while making his 17th appearance and seventh start of the season. By starting, the left-hander will face Dodgers left-handed hitters Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the opening inning.

Alexander has followed an opener in each of his last seven starts, and he is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA over the last five. He gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings of a no-decision Sunday at home against the Diamondbacks as the Rays won 8-7 in 12 innings.

Alexander’s only career appearance against the Dodgers came in a 2022 start in which he gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings and allowed two homers. Taylor hit one of the home runs for the Dodgers.

The Rays enter off a split of a four-game series on the road against the Oakland Athletics that immediately followed a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks.

After Thursday’s 3-1 loss at Oakland, Tampa Bay fell seven games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

“I don’t think we should accept splits,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “That’s not the standard that we’ve set, but that’s what we did. We’ve got to do a better job of finding ways to score runs for sure. For us to get back in the thing, we’ve got to really get hot.”

–Field Level Media