San Francisco Giants‘ ace Kevin Gausman will be on the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 20-game winner Julio Urias as the game-two starters of the NLDS. Gausman is 14-6 this season with a 2.81 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He struck out 227 batters in 192 innings, which is 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Kevin was an All-Star for the first time in his career this season. Urias is 20-3 this season with a 2.96 ERA and 1.018 WHIP. Urias struck out 195 batters in 185 2/3 innings, which is 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Julio led all of Major League Baseball with 20 wins this season. Unlike game one, both game two NLDS starters have postseason pitching experience.
Kevin Gausman’s playoff experience is limited, however. The Gasman has ten innings of experience in the postseason. In those ten innings, He has an ERA of 2.70 and a WHIP of 1.000. He has given up 5.4 hits and 3.6 walks per nine innings. He also has struck out 9.9 batters per nine innings. His ten innings of work came in four games with the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves.
Julio Urias has more postseason experience than Gausman. Urias has a 2.79 ERA and 0.853 WHIP in 38 2/3 innings. He struck out 39 batters in those 38 2/3 innings, which amounts to 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Julio gave up 5.6 hits and 2.1 walks per nine innings on average in the postseason. All of his postseason and regular season pitching experience has come with the Dodgers.
Game Two Starters’ Stats
Kevin Gausman has pitched in three games against the Dodgers this season. He has amassed a 3.21 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in those three games. The Dodgers batters hit .160 and had an OPS of .700 against the 30-year-old righty. In addition, Gausman struck out 26.2% of the Dodgers he faced this season while walking 13.1%. He struck out 10.3 and walked 5.1 Dodgers per nine innings this season. The Gasman also left 94.2% of Dodger baserunners on base. The Dodgers were able to hit some home runs against Gausman, however. They hit three home runs in only 14 innings, which averages to 1.9 home runs per nine innings. The batting average on balls in play for the Dodgers against Gausman was only .156, so their balls may not have been dropping in play as much as they normally would. Opponents’ regular season BABIP against Gausman is .275 this season.
Julio Urias faced the Giants five times this season and amassed a 3.38 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. The Giants hitters batted .274 and had an OPS of .700 against the 25-year-old lefty. Urias struck out 27.7% and walked 2.5% of the Giants hitters that he faced. Julio gave up three home runs in 29 1/3 innings, which is 0.9 home runs per nine innings. He also struck out 33 Giants batters in those 29 1/3 innings, which amounts to 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. The batting average on balls in play for the Giants against Urias was .350, which means that they probably saw a bit of luck on some of those balls in play. Opponents’ regular season BABIP against Urias is .276 this season.
Players Fans Missed in Game One
There are four main players missing out on the NLDS. The Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw is probably the biggest name out of the four players because he is a future Hall of Famer. He may have been starting game two of the NLDS if he was available, but he is out with left forearm soreness. The Giants’ righty Johnny Cueto will also be out for the NLDS as he missed a lot of September with right elbow discomfort. The Giants thought about using Cueto out of the bullpen but opted to leave him off of the NLDS roster instead.
Both first basemen are also out. Dodgers’ first baseman Max Muncy injured his left elbow during the final regular-season game. The Dodgers are hoping that Muncy will be able to play sometime in October if the Dodgers are able to advance past the NLDS. Giants’ first baseman Brandon Belt is also unavailable. He broke his left thumb and was left off of the NLDS roster. Like Muncy, the Giants are hopeful that Belt could come back later in October. Belt was hit by a fastball during a bunt attempt against the Colorado Rockies towards the end of the regular season.
But for game two of the NLDS, which is on Saturday at 6:07 PM PDT in San Francisco, everyone will be focused on Gausman and Urias. We will see how well they perform. The Giants currently lead the best of five series 1-0.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Kevin Gausman, Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto, Max Muncy, Brandon Belt
