The Dodgers lineup for Game 6 of the World Series includes a few more tweaks for a team trying to find offense while facing elimination against the Blue Jays on Friday night at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Tommy Edman makes his first start in center field since September 24, and Miguel Rojas at second base.
It’s the third start for Rojas this postseason, and the first since Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Phillies. Rojas has played in six games so far this postseason with three
hits in 10 at-bats, with all three hits coming in the wild card series against the Reds.
Edman has started all but one game this postseason, with his previous 14 starts at second base, with a right ankle sprain that has bothered him all season and limited his mobility in the outfield. He did play the final five innings of Monday’s 18-inning marathon in center field in Game 3.
Mookie Betts moves one more slot down in the batting order, now batting fourth for the first time since September 29, 2017 while with the Red Sox, which was also the last time he batted anywhere other than first, second, or third in a starting lineup.
Will Smith had two of the Dodgers’ four hits against Kevin Gausman in Game 2 last Saturday, including the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning off the Blue Jays starter, but has just two singles in 14 at-bats since with six strikeouts, a stretch that saw him catch 36 innings in three days. Now after an off day, Smith bats second again, directly behind Shohei Ohtani as they did in Game 5.
In 54 innings in this World Series, the Dodgers have put together multiple hits in only seven of them. Only one of those multi-hit innings came in the last two games, when Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández singled against Shane Bieber in the sixth inning of Game 4 in Los Angeles, but did not score.
“Hitting creates energy and we weren’t getting hits, so we weren’t really doing what it took to find that energy,” Kiké Hernández said after the Dodgers were manhandled by Trey Yesavage in Game 5.
The Dodgers have gone down in order in 19 of their 54 innings (35.2 percent), including five innings in a row in Game 2 against Gausman, who is back on the mound for Toronto in Game 6.
“I think right now, we got to find a way to win one game. And I could dive into my thoughts, but I think at the end of the day, they just have to compete and fight in the batter’s box,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters during Thursday’s workout day at Rogers Centre. “And it’s one-on-one, the hitter versus the pitcher, and that’s it. Really. I mean, I think that that sort of mindset is all I’ll be looking for and expect good things to happen from that.”
George Springer is back in the lineup for Blue Jays, leading off for Toronto after missing the last two games with right oblique discomfort suffered in Game 3 on Monday in Los Angeles.
