Jordan Montgomery Back on the Mound Again vs. the Dodgers

After getting scratched from Tuesday night's start due to a bee delay, left-hander Jordan Montgomery (1-1, 2.77 ERA) will face the Dodgers just 24 hours later. There could be some concern about Montgomery getting back up hot again one day after a short warm-up followed by two hours of sitting. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo explained that decision.

"He said he'd walk in here today and feel charged up, ready, and 100%. I trust him because he knows himself. I feel like a good night's rest was going to clean his mind, clear the head a little bit without having to deal with the frustration of the up, down, UP, he was potentially dealing with yesterday."

On the other side, the D-backs will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-1, 3.54 ERA) for the first time. Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers in the offseason with the expectation he'd anchor the top of their rotation. He is one of the top starting pitchers in missing bats and avoiding free passes, with a strikeout rate of 31.9% and a walk rate of 5.4%.

If there is one flaw in Yamamoto's game, it's he can be hit hard when he has poor fastball location. Opposing batters are hitting .316 with a .605 slugging percentage against his four-seamer this season. Expect a lot of early-count swings against the fastball in order to prevent him from getting to his nasty assortment of secondary pitches, especially the curveball and split-finger.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is out of the lineup with a left-hander on the mound. Austin Barnes will start at catcher, with Will Smith batting as the designated hitter.

Blaze Alexander gets the start at shortstop for the D-backs in the third game of the series. Kevin Newman started the first two games.

After needing the bullpen to get 30 outs last night, they were a bit short-handed in terms of length with both Bryce Jarvis and Logan Allen unavailable. To provide some more length and coverage for the bullpen in the final game of this series, they brought up left-hander Blake Walston from Triple-A Reno. Walston has been stretched out as a starter all year, so he should be able to provide some length in the event of a short start from Montgomery or extra innings.

The D-backs are also a bit short-handed with their short-inning relievers. Justin Martinez and Scott McGough have pitched in the first two games of the series. Ryan Thompson threw two innings on Tuesday. Joe Mantiply also pitched multiple innings.