The Los Angeles Dodgers look to complete a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium. Chris Capuano takes the hill for Los Angeles, who has won five of their first six games. Jeff Karstens starts for the Pirates.
Juan Rivera has hit five home runs in 68 games since coming to the Dodgers last July. But he has also driven in 49 runs during that span, hitting .282/.338/.407 in Los Angeles, including a pair of run-scoring singles Wednesday night against Pittsburgh.
"He's never been a huge home run guy. He's always been, for me, a close to .300 guy who drove in runs," manager Don Mattingly said before Thursday's game. "What he's doing for us is what I've always pictured him as being. I've never looked at him as a home run hitter, a guy who will hit 30."
Rivera will bat fifth tonight for the Dodgers, his normal spot behind Andre Ethier with a right-handed pitcher on the mound. Here are Thursday's starting lineups:
Pirates (2-3)
Tabata RF
Harrison 2B
McCutchen CF
McGehee 1B
Navarro LF
Barmes SS
Alvarez 3B
McKenry C
Karstens P
Dodgers (5-1)
Gordon SS
Ellis 2B
Kemp CF
Ethier RF
Rivera LF
Loney 1B
Uribe 3B
Ellis C
Capuano P
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