NEW YORK — Omaha’s loss Saturday night will be a big win for anyone who likes watching two of the best pitchers in baseball face off against one another.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to make a surprising return to the major league rotation Saturday night Matt Breida Jersey , when the Dodgers visit the New York Mets in the middle game of a three-game series at Citi Field.
The Dodgers won the opener 5-2 on Friday night when Cody Bellinger’s sixth-inning grand slam snapped a scoreless pitcher’s duel between Los Angeles left-hander Alex Wood and Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler.
There will likely be more zeroes on the board Saturday when Kershaw (1-4, 2.76 ERA) may not even be the best pitcher to take the Citi Field mound. The Hall of Fame-bound southpaw, who hasn’t pitched this month because of a lower back strain, will be opposed by the hottest pitcher in baseball, Mets ace Jacob deGrom (5-2, 1.51 ERA).
The Mets finally provided deGrom some run support in his most recent start on Monday when he picked up a long-awaited win after allowing two runs (one earned) in eight innings of a 12-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
DeGrom lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.51 in the win. Since 2000, only Randy Johnson (1.47 ERA in 2000) has produced a lower ERA through 15 starts.
DeGrom has a 0.90 ERA in his last 11 starts, during which he has only gone 3-2 while the Mets have gone 3-8. New York scored 16 runs while deGrom was on the mound in his 10 starts before Monday.
“I watched (Corey) Kluber have about a 1.40 ERA for like 12 or 13 starts at the end of one season to win a Cy Young,” said Mets manager Mickey Callaway Jerick McKinnon Jersey , who was the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians when Kluber locked up the American League Cy Young Award by posting a 1.42 ERA in his final 12 starts last season.
“But this is pretty special. You don’t see this often.”
Nor do matchups like Kershaw-deGrom happen very often. The clash Saturday night will mark their first regular-season matchup and the second time they’ve opposed one another.
DeGrom picked up the win in the decisive Game 5 of the 2015 National League Division Series when he tossed seven scoreless innings in the Mets’ 3-1 win over the Dodgers and Kershaw, who pitched on three days’ rest and took the loss after giving up all three runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Kershaw was originally scheduled to pitch for Triple-A Oklahoma City against Omaha, but with an uncertain weather forecast in Nebraska, the Dodgers decided to take their chances by having him pitch for the big league team in New York, where scattered thunderstorms are expected.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted the famously competitive Kershaw did his share of talking his way out of the rehab start.
“He did play a little weatherman, so with weather.com and Clayton, we were pretty abreast with the weather in Omaha,” Roberts said with a grin Friday afternoon.
Roberts said the Dodgers will proceed carefully with Kershaw, who has made as many trips to the disabled list as to a big league mound since May. Kershaw was sidelined from May 2 through May 30 because of biceps tendinitis.
Kershaw was activated May 31 Frank Gore Jersey , when he didn’t factor into the decision after pitching through a tight back while allowing one run in five innings of the Dodgers’ 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Los Angeles placed Kershaw back on the disabled list the next day.
“We don’t know how much he’s going to pitch,” Roberts said. “I don’t want to put a limit on him. Obviously, there is a limitation with Clayton, and I’ll make that decision.”
Both pitchers will have a unique, opponent-specific streak on the line Saturday
DeGrom is 0-3 with a 3.26 ERA in six career regular-season starts against the Dodgers. He has beaten every other team he has faced more than once.
Kershaw is 8-0 with a 1.84 ERA in 12 regular-season starts against the Mets. He is undefeated against eight other teams but has beaten only one of those squads, the Atlanta Braves, more than twice.
German Marquez, like the Colorado Rockies, has been much better on the road than at home this season.
The right-hander will try to pitch the Rockies to another road series win on Thursday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies. Vince Velasquez will start for the Phillies in the rubber match of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Marquez (4-6 Steve Young Jersey , 4.79 ERA) has a 7.71 ERA in seven home starts and opponents have a .989 OPS against him at hitter-friendly Coors Field. In six starts on the road, however, Marquez owns a 2.06 ERA, 1.086 WHIP and an .606 opponent on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
Marquez is coming off an especially bad home outing. He gave up three home runs in the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks (one each for Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and David Peralta) last Friday and was charged with five runs in four innings of work.
“The pitches were up,” Colorado manager Bud Black told mlb.com of Marquez. “You look at the inning he gave up three homers … those are pitches that hitters can elevate. If they square them up, they’re going to go out of the park.”
Marquez, 23, has faced the Phillies once. He earned a win by allowing just one run in six innings on May 23 Y.A. Tittle Jersey , 2017, at Citizens Bank Park.
The Rockies improved their road record to 22-15 with an 7-2 win on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. However, Colorado (33-34) is still under .500 because the team is 11-19 at home.
The Phillies have won 21 of their 33 home games but need a win on Thursday to finish 3-3 on their six-game homestand. Gabe Kapler’s team is 3-8 in June and has not won a series in three weeks.
Velasquez (4-7, 4.95 ERA) pitched in the Phillies’ first game of the homestand, and he had one of the worst starts of his career. The 26-year-old gave up a career-high 10 runs on nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers last Friday. Velasquez’s season ERA jumped up by more than a run in the brief outing.
“When he came out, the velocity was down a little bit,” Kapler told mlb.com after Velasquez’s last start. “The stuff didn’t quite look crisp coming out of his hand. We were talking about it on the bench and wondering if he just wasn’t going to have his stuff.”
Velasquez is 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA in four career starts against the Rockies. He has 23 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings against the team.
Velasquez will have to deal with a red-hot Trevor Story on Thursday. Colorado’s shortstop extended his hitting streak to seven games on Wednesday night with a 3-for-5 performance that featured two doubles and two RBIs.
Story has had five straight multi-hit games and is hitting .467 during the seven-game streak. The third-year major leaguer has raised his batting average by 27 points and his OPS by 68 points in the last week.
