The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants get set to do battle in the third game of their 4-game series on Wednesday night in San Francisco. The Dodgers are battling the New York Yankees for the best overall record in baseball and are comfortably in front of the now vastly improved San Diego Padres in the NL West Division. The Giants are in third place, significantly behind both teams and battling just to stay in the NL Wildcard race. On the mound on Wednesday night will be lefty Julio Urias (10-6, 2.71) of the Dodgers against veteran righty Alex Cobb (3-5, 4.06) of the Giants. First pitch is scheduled for 945pm EST.
The deep and talented Dodgers team added a few subtle pieces to the lineup during the trade deadline in adding relief pitcher Chris Martin of the Cubs for more right-handed depth out of the pen and then taking on the Yankees' headache when acquiring outfielder Joey Gallo. Gallo, hitting just .159 this season but has significant power from the left side and could provide the Dodgers a solid option off the bench like former Dodger Joc Pederson. On Tuesday night, the Dodgers took another win from the Giants despite a rare rough outing from Tyler Anderson in a 9-5 victory. Mookie Betts went 3-for-5 and cranked his 24th home run in the win.
Welcome to Los Angeles, @JoeyGallo24! pic.twitter.com/qktYpzh2mX
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 2, 2022
The Dodgers certainly did not need a major overhaul at the trade deadline with arguably the best roster in baseball top to bottom, challenged only by the Yankees at the moment. LA has the 2nd best offense in baseball and the #2 ERA in the game heading into Tuesday night's game in San Francisco. The team had some needs out of the pen and reached for Martin to help with some of those issues. Gallo will be a nice insurance policy should the Dodgers continue to get less than modest production from their DH types like Max Muncey and Justin Turner. On the mound on Wednesday night will be lefty Julio Urias. Urias is second on the Dodgers in wins, innings pitched and WHIP. He also is first in strikeouts and averages 8.5 K/9 this season. In the month of July, Urias went 4-0 in five starts with a 2.89 ERA. That record included a win over the Giants in LA, allowing just two hits in six shutout innings of work.