Bobby Miller stays the league chief in xDRIP as he takes the mound for the Dodgers on Luau Night time tonight towards the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Nonetheless excited about Bobby Miller’s debut match, he turned the league chief in xDRIP earlier than he threw a single pitch https://t.co/2tVM4GlBfy

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) Could 24, 2023

Having allowed 16 runs on 22 hits and seven walks in 15 1/3 innings since this tweet from Josh the Jinx…

After simply 4 begins, Bobby Miller has the Third-highest pitcher fWAR complete on the Dodgers

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) June 10, 2023

…Miller may use a clean outing after struggling towards the Giants, Astros and Royals in his previous three begins. The Pirates need to win or break up a sequence with the Dodgers for the fourth time over the previous two seasons after dropping 12 straight to Los Angeles between 2019 and 2021, and 23 of 25 from 2017 to 2021. To clinch a break up tonight, Pittsburgh will want 27-year-old Osvaldo Bido‘s FIP to come back nearer to his ERA by way of his first 19 profession innings. Permitting 10 runs in 19 innings since making his Main League debut again on June 14 after six seasons and 121 appearances within the minors since 2017, Bido holds a 4.74 ERA to a 3.51 FIP and a 5.31 DRA.

	7:10 P.M.		Los Angeles
DH	McCutchen	2B	Betts
LF	Reynolds (S)	1B	Freeman (L)
RF	Davis	C	Smith
1B	Santana (S)	3B	Muncy (L)
CF	Suwinski (L)	DH	Martinez
2B	Gonzales	LF	Peralta (L)
SS	Marcano (L)	RF	Heyward (L)
3B	Triolo	CF	Outman (L)
C	Hedges	SS	Rojas
P	Bido (R)	P	Miller (R)

With the right-handed Bido on the mound, the Dodgers are sending out the very same batting order and defensive alignment. Miguel Vargas, who struck out trying twice after coming off the bench within the eighth inning final night time, will get one other night time began from the bench as he’s now 4-for-58 with a .344 OPS since a six-game hitting streak ended again on June 8 towards the Reds. David Peralta‘s nine-game hitting streak ended final night time, however James Outman‘s pair of dwelling runs imply he’s at a .741 OPS whereas hitting 11-of-41 in his previous 10 video games.

Certain, that’s not nice however it’s nonetheless a lot better than the .437 OPS and 13-for-85 he went over the month earlier than he got here up with three hits towards Houston on June 23.

In the meantime, Jack Suwinski, Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo went a mixed 7-for-12 final night time with three walks, 4 RBIs and 6 runs scored within the 5-6-7 spots. That trio is again within the 5-6-8 spots tonight with Tucupita Marcano in for Rodolfo Castro being the one lineup change for the Pirates following final night time.

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As talked about to open this Sport Thread, it’s been a tough stretch for Miller since starting his profession with simply two runs allowed in 23 innings whereas placing out 23 to only 7 walks and 12 hits. The Astros alone practically matched that hit complete with 10 in 4 innings on June 24 whereas the Ok/BB ratio went from 23/7 all the way down to 12/7 in his previous 15 1/3 innings in these final three begins.

Sure, his BABIP has gone from .211 within the first 4 begins to .392 within the subsequent three video games. Whereas Miller’s arduous contact has hung proper across the identical fee, truly barely happening from the 28.1% it was in these first 4 begins, his floor ball fee went from 54.4% in his first 23 innings to 44.2% within the subsequent 15 1/3. That elevated his line drives from 19.3% to 23.1% and fly balls from 26.3% to 32.7%. Whereas Miller additionally had batters pulling half the time (50.9%) in comparison with 26.3% to middle and 22.8% reverse discipline, now the unfold is nearer to being equal to all fields as all of them sit at 39.6%, 32.1% and 28.3% respectively up to now three begins.

It’s just a little irritating for Miller as that BABIP improve might be seen within the two worst video games, because the Giants had three hits with an xBA beneath .250 (and three others with exit velocities beneath 77 mph) and the Astros added two extra hits beneath .250 xBA. That’s practically 30% of the hits allowed in these two video games mixed. The Royals didn’t get luck, with all of their hits being .300 or larger, however Miller’s three runs allowed in 5 2/3 innings towards Kansas Metropolis is kind of a bit higher than the 13 runs allowed in 9 2/3 innings towards San Francisco and Houston.

Right here’s an replace on Miller’s total utilization by way of these seven begins, with that upward pattern for the curve towards the Royals attributed to a 25% utilization towards lefties to make it the second most used pitch for left-handed batters after it sat between 4 and 15% within the first six begins, often rating fourth in utilization. The Pirates have two lefties and two swap hitters within the lineup tonight, so we are going to see how a lot the curve will get used this outing.

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Spending all of 2022 in Triple-A Indianapolis after getting two begins there in 2021, Bido opened the 2023 season there as soon as once more and began 10 video games in 12 appearances earlier than being known as as much as the majors on June 14. Bido has been within the minors for awhile for a purpose, as he final completed a stage with an ERA beneath 4.00 in 2019 at Single-A Greensboro and Excessive-A Bradenton with a 3.55 and a 2.25 respectively. These have been profession lows on the time after opening his profession within the Pirates group with a 5.33 within the Dominican League in 2017 and a 4.18 ERA in Low-A West Virginia in 2018.

In his 19 main league innings up to now, Bido has relied on an 84 mph slider, a 94 mph fastball, a 94 mph sinker, an 88 mph change and an 85 mph cutter. It’s 37.9% sinker and 33.3% slider to right-handed batters with the four-seam coming in at 16.7%. The sinker and slider are proper round .300 xBA proper now, with the latter at a .379 xwOBA. The slider has been hit whereas the sinker’s batting common remains to be down round .200. The four-seamer has truly been the strikeout pitch with a 22.2 Whiff% leading to 5 strikeouts whereas the opposite 4 all closed out only one up to now. The cutter’s 37.5 Whiff% is one of the best towards right-handed batters, however has solely been thrown 18 occasions.

For lefties, it’s 41.7% four-seamers to 32.5% sliders and 18.5% adjustments. The four-seamer has been terrible towards left-handed batters with a .343 xBA, .541 xSLG and a .437 xwOBA. The precise outcomes have been simply as unhealthy as lefties are 7-for-14 towards the pitch up to now. The slider has been a lot better at a .261 xBA, .342 xSLG and .263 xwOBA whereas the change has a 30.0 Whiff% and has but to be given up for a success (although it’s in simply 4 at-bats).

Whereas it’s about 1 to 2 mph slower, the break of Bido’s four-seamer is just like Yency Almonte‘s and the slider is round Alex Vesia‘s. The sinker is about 1.5 mph quicker, however the motion is nearer to Noah Syndergaard‘s and the change hasn’t been thrown sufficient to formally chart, however could be even be fairly near Syndergaard. I record all of those as a result of it was just a little humorous that none of these pitches have been paricularly profitable in 2023, apart from Vesia getting a reasonably strong Whiff% on the slider.

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Mookie Betts has his first-round opponent for the very closely tilted American League Residence Run Derby.

Mookie Betts will get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. within the Residence Run Derby. https://t.co/MIbvza4XJ5

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 6, 2023

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Yesterday was Hudson’s fifteenth day since getting optioned. As we speak is his first day eligible to return (and Gavin Stone threw 50 pitches final night time) https://t.co/PihTTN4Itd

— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) July 5, 2023

My private favourite Bryan Hudson has returned to the majors after showing in a single recreation everybody blocked out of their minds again on June 17. Hudson put the Giants down so as with a strikeout in his first profession inning earlier than coming again out for a second inning the place he allowed a stroll, 4 hits, an error on one of many hits leading to three extra runs. Since being again in Triple-A, Hudson has struck out six to 1 stroll in 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PT from Dodger Stadium on SportsNet LA and MLB Community.