The Los Angeles Dodgers will turn to right-hander Kenta Maeda in hopes of continuing their run of stellar pitching and finishing a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix.
The Dodgers won the first two games of the series — 3-1 and 9-0 — having allowed a total of six hits behind the power of Walker Buehler and the wizardry of Hyun-Jin Ryu.
“I think our offense is capable of a little bit more,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo told reporters after his club was shut out Tuesday night. “I want to challenge those guys to remember how good they are and what they can do in some special ways.”
It won’t get much easier for Arizona against Maeda (7-2, 3.61 ERA).
Maeda has won four consecutive starts and hasn’t lost since April 23. He has allowed only five earned runs and 12 hits in his past four starts, spanning 23 2/3 innings.
The Dodgers have yielded a mere seven runs in their past six games, including three shutouts. Los Angeles has won seven consecutive games and 11 of its past 12. Arizona has dropped two in a row and seven of the past nine.
Maeda is 5-5 with 4.75 ERA in 16 career appearances (13 starts) against the Diamondbacks. He hasn’t had much success at Chase Field, though, with a 7.31 ERA in 28 1/3 innings.
Arizona will counter with rookie right-hander Jon Duplantier (1-0, 3.18 ERA). He made his first major league start on Friday, when he allowed three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings in a no-decision against the visiting New York Mets.
He gave up all three runs in the second inning before needing only 32 pitches to get through the next three frames.
“That second stung a little bit,” he told reporters. “But, at the same time, yeah, I feel like putting three zeros was good for me mentally. And there’s a lot to take away from that.”
Duplantier, who had made five relief appearances before Friday’s start, is trying to solidify himself as the replacement for Luke Weaver, who is out indefinitely due to mild strains of his right ulnar collateral ligament and flexor pronator in his pitching arm.
Duplantier likely will have to deal with the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger, who has an 11-game hitting streak and is batting a major-league-leading .374 with 20 home runs. Bellinger hit a two-run triple Tuesday.
“It’s amazing. It’s special,” teammate Alex Verdugo said on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM. “Everything looks like a beach ball to him, I guess. It’s impressive.
“It doesn’t matter when he gets two strikes; he’s up there battling, having good at-bats. Not only that, but the speed that he has, he can beat out ground balls. … That’s how you hit over .300 and do all that.”
Los Angeles’ Justin Turner, who started Monday for the first time in five days, was out of the lineup Tuesday as manager Dave Roberts continues to be cautious with the third baseman’s tight left hamstring.
Turner did pinch-hit Tuesday and is expected to start Wednesday ahead of a Thursday off day. Roberts said the sporadic playing time is better than a stint on the injured list.
“He’s just too valuable off the bench,” Roberts said. “He’s one of your best bats … that presence, that at-bat if we need it, it’s huge.”
Arizona right fielder Adam Jones left Tuesday’s game in the top of the fourth due to right hamstring tightness. He was listed as day-to-day following the game.