Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has used a lesson reinforced in the World Baseball Classic to put together the best of his three seasons in Arizona.
Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski has made the most of his first opportunity to be a regular part of a rotation by making a nice step forward in his third season.
Both first-time All-Stars will face off when the Dodgers and D-backs meet in the finale of a three-game series in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon.
Rodriguez (10-4, 2.71 ERA) leads Arizona with 14 quality starts, and Wrobleski (11-3, 3.31) has 12, tied with Shohei Ohtani for second on the Dodgers’ staff to Yoshinobu Yamamoto (16).
The teams have split the first two games of the series with late victories, the Dodgers taking a 2-1, 10-inning win Saturday to avoid their first eight-game losing streak since 2017.
Arizona had the winning run on third base with none out in the ninth and had runners on first and third with two outs in the 10th. Los Angeles’ Jack Dreyer got Ryan Waldschmidt to ground into a double play on a comebacker to end the game.
“Man, that was a tough one,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team had six hits and won on Ohtani’s two-out infield single.
“Offensively we just got to get going. It’s hard to win games when your margin for error is a razor’s edge. It’s not like the guys aren’t trying. But you know, it’s a tough way to pitch when you have to be perfect. Right now we’re just scuffling.”
The teams have split the first 12 games of the season series, with the finale on Sunday.
“We’re looking forward to taking the series tomorrow,” said Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who threw seven scoreless innings Saturday to run his streak without allowing an earned run to 20 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez credits his strong season to his first appearance for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, a loss to the Dominican Republic in which he gave up a home run to Juan Soto. Rodriguez shook off a slider and threw a fastball that Soto hammered.
“As soon as I got to the dugout,” Rodriguez told MLB Network, “Johan Santana (pitching coach) said, ‘You know what the plan was. Why didn’t you follow the plan?’ That’s my mentality. Execute the pitch, follow the plan and never let my feelings get to me.”
Rodriguez has made quality starts in eight of his last 10 outings but has given up five earned runs in two of his past four. In a testament to how consistent his season has been, his ERA is the highest it has been since late April.
Rodriguez is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season, and his 9-3 victory on July 10 kicked off the D-backs’ three-game sweep heading into the All-Star break. Rodriguez is 3-4 with a 4.53 ERA in 10 career starts against the Dodgers.
Teoscar Hernandez is 10-for-31 with three homers against Rodriguez. Freddie Freeman is 10-for-23 with a homer, and Ohtani is 8-for-26 with two homers against him.
Wrobleski has thrown a career-high 117 innings this season after throwing 103 in spot duty in the two previous years combined, and the heavy workload may have caused a recent speed bump.
He has given up 12 runs and eight homers in his last two starts, a no-decision against Seattle and a loss to the Chicago Cubs. He is in danger of losing his rotation spot, with Tarik Skubal joining the team in a trade with Detroit and Blake Snell returning from injury on Tuesday.
Wrobleski threw six shutout innings against Arizona on June 4 but did not get a decision as Ketel Marte hit a walk-off homer in the ninth for a 3-2 victory for the D-backs. Wrobleski is 0-1 with a 7.30 ERA in three appearances against them.
–Field Level Media
