After a quick three game sweep of the Rockies in Colorado, the Dodgers are back home for a another quick three game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be on the mound for the Dodgers for his fourth start in what has been a phenomenal August for him – a 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings, with 18 strikeouts and just six walks. He now sits at a 2.60 ERA, fifth lowest ERA in the National League.
Yamamoto is coming off a wobbly start against the Milwaukee Brewers, in which his first inning
went 26 pitches with two walks, but he turned it around, allowing just one run over six innings and nine strikeouts. He told reporters afterwards that he had tried to be too fine in the first inning, but that he was able to reorganize his thoughts and dominate from then on.
While the Pirates are fourth in the NL Central and sit three games below .500, they still are not an easy lineup to face. They have the most hits and third most runs in all of MLB.
Yamamoto has faced the Bucs once before in his career in April of 2025 where he was outdueled by Paul Skenes and was given no run support and took the 3-0 loss.
On the other side of the ship the Pirates will send Bubba Chandler to the mound. The 23-year-old righty is 6-8 on the season with a 4.23 ERA.
One particular matchup to watch is Chandler vs Max Muncy. Chandler throws his fastball 51.1% of the time, and Muncy loves that particular pitch from righties. Muncy has three homers in his last seven games, and seven of his homers this season are on that righty fastball.
Chandler as a whole has great stuff, but can lose his command.
Oneil Cruz has just rejoined the team after having been out since the beginning of June with a left hand fracture. Before his injury, he was just six home runs shy of setting a new career high in homers in half the number of games.
Friday game info
Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
Teams: Dodgers vs. Pirates
Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
Start time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: SportsNet LA
