Back Gonsolin In Return To Rotation

Dodgers vs. Pirates, 6:35 ET

Yesterday was a beautiful day for us. I was correct about taking the Pirates through five innings and one of the reasons I did that was my concern for the Pirates bullpen. They were up 7-3 at the end of five innings and then lost the game 8-7. I'm headed back to the same series once again and looking to get another win in this game.

Last season I focused in on a few pitchers quite a bit. Early in the season, I recognized that one guy on the Dodgers was pitching better than the majority of guys in the Majors. He was dominant in every start but was only going five, maybe six innings. Still, with the Dodgers bullpen, they weren't allowing runs. It helped that he wasn't allowing any runs either, but the point is that opposing teams weren't scoring on them. Now, that same pitcher is back, Tony Gonsolin. I think he could be a huge addition to the Dodgers rotation. Gonsolin will likely be on a pitch count or at least some sort of tracker that will keep him from going too deep into the game.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are starting the season strong and take on the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

Pirates Are Off To A Hot Start

On the other side of the diamond, the Pirates are looking like one of the better teams in baseball. That's a sentence I certainly didn't expect to write at any point this season. Either way, they have been successful and now look to rebound off of last night's collapse. Unfortunately for them, they have to face the daunting Dodgers lineup and a tough starting pitcher. Roansy Contreras is taking the ball for them. He has been surprisingly good this season outside of one start. In his bad start, he allowed seven earned runs over 3.1 innings. In the other three starts, he allowed just four earned runs over 18.1 innings. The Dodgers really haven't ever seen Contreras, but I am not convinced he is going to keep up this solid pitching performance.

I like the Dodgers in this one to win by the run line. They haven't looked like the Dodgers of the past few years lately, but they have more than enough talent offensively to get after the Pirates pitching as we saw last night. Maybe I'm backing Gonsolin too early here, but I think he can handle four or five innings and the bullpen should be able to manage the rest even after pitching multiple innings last night.

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