Lights out in the early portion of his first two starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers, right-hander Trevor Bauer will now work on perfecting the later innings with his new club.
The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner still has been what Los Angeles were hoping for when he was brought in during the offseason. Bauer (1-0, 4.15 ERA) will take the mound Tuesday when the Dodgers open a three-game home series against the Colorado Rockies.
Colorado will counter with Antonio Senzatela (1-1, 5.56 ERA), who got the loss in his first start of the season against Bauer when the Rockies and Dodgers met in Colorado on April 2.
Bauer had a no-hitter after six innings of his Dodgers debut at Coors Field on the second day of the season but was roughed up in the seventh. He still earned the win while giving up four earned runs.
In his second start, at Oakland on Wednesday, he did not get a decision in a 4-3 extra-innings loss to the Athletics. In both games, he struck out 10 and cruised through six innings. He did not get out of the seventh in either game.
Bauer has been in the news since his last start when it was reported that Major League Baseball was looking at the baseballs used during his start at Oakland for potential doctoring. Manager Dave Roberts was concerned that his pitcher is being targeted.
“My understanding is that umpires collect baseballs from all the pitchers, and balls that were in play, to collect samples,” Roberts said Friday morning before his team’s home opener. “That’s kind of what I get from it. I just hope that our player is not singled out. That’s the one thing I want to guard against.
“(Bauer is) the only name I’ve heard floated around.”
Tuesday will be Bauer’s first home start at Dodgers Stadium and his fifth career start against Colorado. In the previous four he was 1-1 with a 4.37 ERA in 22 2/3 innings.
This will be Senzatela’s 12th appearance and 10th career start against Los Angeles, and he’s hopeful it will be more like his gem against Arizona on Wednesday than his short outing against the Dodgers.
Senzatela allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings of his season debut against Los Angeles but quickly corrected things in his next start when he tossed eight shutout innings against the Diamondbacks.
Los Angeles feasted on fastballs against Senzatela, so he mixed in more off-speed stuff against Arizona, and it stands to reason that he could do more of the same on Tuesday night.
“He had a really good slider, got a lot of grounders and kept our infield busy,” Rockies manager Bud Black said after the 8-0 victory over the Diamondbacks. “He set the tone. And we just kept on the attack both at the plate and on the mound.”
Senzatela is 3-4 with a 6.70 ERA in his career against the Dodgers and is looking for his first win at Los Angeles, where he is 0-3 with 6.84 ERA in six appearances (five starts).
