The Dodgers took two of three in Texas over the weekend in an extremely competitive series. They took the opener 3-0, but went into the ninth with a 1-0 lead before Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith provided some insurance. They got walked off on Saturday, but came away with a 1-0 win in the rubber match despite losing Tyler Glasnow to what hopefully is still just a cramp. Today, the Dodgers wrap up this road trip by opening a two-game set against a Cubs team they’ve already seen five times this season. The two teams opened the season in Japan, where the Dodgers won both games. They met in LA earlier in April and the Cubs took two of three, including the 16-0 drubbing last Saturday. The Cubs left LA and dropped two of three in San Diego before returning home to take two of three against the Diamondbacks. We’re 24 games into the season and the Cubs have somehow only played teams from western divisions (Dodgers, Arizona, A’s, Padres and Rangers). They’re 14-10, but have scored the most runs in baseball by a pretty decent margin (145, ahead of the Yankees’ 130). They’ve won six of their nine games at home this season (excluding the two “home” games in Japan) and took two of three in Chicago when the Dodgers went there last April.
 |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:40 P.M. | Chicago | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | LF | Happ (S) |
| SS | Betts | RF | Tucker (L) |
| RF | T. Hernández | DH | Suzuki |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | 1B | Busch (L) |
| CF | Edman (S) | SS | Swanson |
| C | Smith | 2B | Hoerner |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | CF | Crow-Armstrong (L) |
| 2B | K. Hernández | C | Amaya |
| LF | Pages | 3B | Workman (L) |
| P | May (R) | P | Imanaga (L) |
Dustin May gets his fourth start of the season and is coming off his first win since May 2023. May allowed a run on three hits over six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks last time out (albeit against Colorado) and found his whiffs again after struggling with that in the previous start. May got 11 whiffs in his first start against Atlanta and followed that up with only three in Washington but got 12 against the Rockies. That outing actually brought his ERA up to 1.06 on the season, with two earned runs allowed in 17 innings. He’s also allowed three unearned, but despite that May has been pretty good in a rotation that’s needed a dependable starter behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto. May was solid in his only career start at Wrigley, allowing two runs and two hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six but did issue three walks and hit a batter, but did a decent job limiting the damage.
The Dodgers square off with Shota Imanaga, as they did on Opening Day in Tokyo. Imanaga held the Dodgers without a hit in his four shutout innings to start the season, but did issue four walks and only struck out two batters. He’s been mostly excellent since, allowing one or fewer runs in four of his five starts this season. The blip came in Chicago against the Rangers, where he allowed five runs in five innings. He had only allowed a solo homer through four innings, but allowed three singles, a double and a homer in the fifth to leave the game with more than four runs allowed for only the third time in his career. Last time out seemed like it must have been frustrating for Imanaga, who didn’t allow an earned run in his five innings of work. However, after throwing 4 2/3 shutout against the Padres he got Manny Machado to hit two foul balls that seemingly should have been caught, as errors were charged to Kyle Tucker and Gage Workman. After the errors, Machado hit a tank to break the shutout with an unearned run home run.
Imanaga primarily throws a fastball/splitter combo. He’s thrown a fastball 52.6 percent of the time this season and has allowed a .209 average off it. It has a 23 percent whiff rate but when it does get hit, damage can be done off it. Of the nine hits he’s allowed off the fastball this season, seven have gone for extra bases and all four of the homers he’s allowed have come off the heater. He’s thrown his splitter 33.8 percent of the time and gets a whiff with it 33.7 percent of the time. He’s also mixed in a sweeper (8.8 percent), curve (3.3 percent) and has thrown three sliders and three sinkers.
Michael Conforto sits against a lefty, with Andy Pages sliding over to left and Enrique Hernandez getting the start at second. Teo hits third with Freddie Freeman fourth, as is the usual against lefties.
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Clayton Kershaw is making his second rehab start tonight.
?BASEBALL FANS, THIS IS NOT A DRILL(ERS) ?
Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw is expected to take the mound TONIGHT at Arvest Ballpark for a rehab start with Tulsa! ?
? Gates open: 6:00 PM
⚾ First pitch: 7:05 PM
? Arvest Ballpark?️ https://t.co/Fxap4ejf8V pic.twitter.com/dF3py2TTFb
— Northwest Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) April 22, 2025
Kershaw’s making this start in AA rather than AAA, facing the Royals’ AA team in Arkansas. I don’t see a lineup for Northwestern Arkansas, but they have Pipeline’s 20th and 82nd ranked prospects (Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen) on the roster.
In other rehab news, Tony Gonsolin is slated for his fourth and potentially final rehab start tomorrow for OKC.
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First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
