Preview: Kiké Hernandez Replaces Jimmy Rollins At Shortstop

The Los Angeles Dodgers look to continue their dominance over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night after Friday’s 8-0 win made possible by home runs from Justin Turner and Andre Ethier, and a grand slam from Joc Pederson.

The lineup features more examples of the Dodgers depth, some due to injury and some due to manager Don Mattingly’s preference. Kiké Hernandez, whose only other start this season came in center field, will start at short stop as Jimmy Rollins sits.

Hernandez is batting .333 in six at-bats with the Dodgers so far including a double, and this will mark the fourth time in his career where he starts at shortstop. Other Dodger bench players making starts today include Turner and Scott Van Slyke.

The red-headed infielder is batting .286 over his past 10 games played including two homers and five RBIs. Van Slyke is an even greater force to be reckoned with, hitting .414 over 29 at-bats thus far with one home run and eight RBIs. Turner bats second after Pederson, and Van Slyke is in the five spot.

With Brandon McCarthy out following Tommy John surgery and Hyun-Jin Ryu’s return still largely unknown, the organization has continually found themselves searching for temporrary replacements at the backend of the rotation. After a strong debut in San Diego last week, right-hander Scott Baker again gets the nod for another start.

While Baker suffered a loss to the Padres in his debut, he threw seven innings and allowed an acceptable three runs on four hits. Although two of the four hits were home runs, Baker still gave the team a chance to win but the Dodgers offense was only able to produce one run.

Facing off against Baker is 28-year-old right-hander Jeremy Hellickson. The former Tampa Bay Rays starter is 1-3 with a 5.24 ERA on the season and is 1-7 in his last 13 starts. He’s faced the Dodgers once in his career and gave up four runs over three innings in an 8-2 loss two season ago.

While Turner makes a second straight start at third base, Mattingly said Juan Uribe remains the club’s everyday starter and he’ll return to the lineup with an 11-game winning streak on Sunday.

Dodgers Lineup:

CF: Joc Pederson

3B: Justin Turner

2B: Howie Kendrick

1B: Adrian Gonzalez

LF: Scott Van Slyke

RF: Andre Ethier

C: Yasmani Grandal

SS: Kiké Hernandez

P: Scott Baker

Diamondbacks lineup:

LF: Ender Inciarte

CF: A.J. Pollock

1B: Paul Goldschmidt

RF: Mark Trumbo

3B: Yasmany Tomas

2B: Aaron Hill

C: Jordan Pacheco

SS: Cliff Pennington

P: Jeremy Hellickson

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