NL West Division rivals will clash on Thursday afternoon, when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres wrap up their series from Petco Park. Last night, Joc Pederson crushed two home runs to power Los Angeles to a 6-4 road victory. Cody Bellinger added a pair of hits for the Dodgers, who won their 102nd game.
Thirty-one year old lefty Clayton Kershaw (15-5 3.15 ERA) will make his final start of the regular season. Through 171 plus innings, Kershaw has struck out 181 batters and owns a stellar 1.07 WHIP.
The San Diego Padres are eight games below .500 at home and have been eliminated from postseason contention. On Wednesday, San Diego batters struck out 14 times and managed just seven hits. Dinelson Lamet struck out ten batters and five innings and did not factor in the decision for the Padres.
The Padres will counter with twenty-six year old righty Joey Lucchesi (10-9 4.28 ERA) on Thursday. Lucchesi has dropped consecutive starts and has been roughed up for 11 runs over his last seven plus innings.
