Toonstruck 1 » The marquee matchup of a weekend

LOS ANGELES –duel for first place was supposed to take place Friday before the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled a late switch and nixed a battle of aces.The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw no longer will match up with the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Zack Greinke in the second game of the four-game series at Dodger Stadium as fellow left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu will take his place for the Dodgers Friday night.It wasn’t that the Dodgers wanted to spread the pitching wealth around the series. In moving Kershaw to Saturday’s game against Arizona Bartolo Colon Jersey , it will give him an extra day of rest with a month left in the season, but primarily it lines up his next outing against another National League West title contender in the Colorado Rockies.Article continues below ...“Every game is very difficult, but when you’re playing a division rival, that essentially counts as two games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “To have the guys that you want in a particular matchup, that’s what we feel comfortable with.”The Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks 3-1 on Thursday night to fall two games behind first-place Arizona in the division, while essentially putting more emphasis on Ryu’s start Friday.Greinke is still the Friday starter for Arizona. His August was not as good as his brilliant July, but he still arrives at his former home park with a 2.19 ERA over his last 10 starts going back to the beginning of July. His worst outing in that bunch came Aug. 13 when he gave up four runs over 6 1/3 innings in a loss to the Texas Rangers.But in his last outing Sunday against the contending Seattle Mariners, Greinke (13-8, 2.93 ERA) went 6 2/3 innings without giving up an earned run and picked up his first victory since July 27. He is 6-4 lifetime against the Dodgers with a 3.84 ERA over 13 starts. This season Greinke is 2-0 with a 4.38 ERA in two starts against Los Angeles.Greinke is well aware that Arizona still has two series remaining against the Dodgers, counting this one, as well as two series against the Rockies. The D-backs also have games remaining with the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.“I don’t know about the strength of schedule Jon Niese Jersey , but it looks like we’ve got a lot of tough teams coming this month,” Greinke said, according to the Arizona Republic, “and play the people we’re competing against a lot, so it is going to be an intense last month, I’d expect.”In three starts since coming off the disabled list because of a strained left groin, Ryu (4-1, 2.18) has been impressive. In recent starts against the Giants, Cardinals and Padres he has a combined 2.30 ERA over 15 2/3 innings.Ryu is 3-3 with a 3.90 ERA in 12 career starts against the Diamondbacks, and he is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts against them this season.Ryu has yet to throw more than 89 pitches in a start during his comeback, though, and the Dodgers could be forced to make an early call to a bullpen that has been a wild ride of late.Dodgers relievers struggled when closer Kenley Jansen was on the disabled list for 10 days in August with an irregular heartbeat. Jansen has struggled in four outings since he has returned, but the rest of the relievers have been better and the Dodgers just got right-hander Josh Fields back from a DL stint of his own because of right shoulder inflammation. Mike Fiers may end up with another chance to pitch in the postseason.The Oakland Athletics acquired the right-hander from the Detroit Tigers on Monday for two players to be named or cash. The 33-year-old Fiers is 7-6 with a 3.48 ERA this season.Fiers was with the World Series champion Astros last year http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-edinson-volquez-jersey , but he was not included on any of Houston’s postseason rosters. He did make one relief appearance for the Astros in the 2015 Division Series.The rebuilding Tigers picked Fiers up before the season on a $6 million, one-year contract , and he pitched well enough that he became a candidate to be traded to a contender.Detroit traded outfielder Leonys Martin to Cleveland, and general manager Al Avila said last week that Oakland and Milwaukee had shown interest in Fiers. But the Tigers weren’t able to work out a deal before the non-waiver trade deadline.Now the Tigers have sent Fiers to an Oakland team that, if the season ended now, would be the American League’s second wild card.“There’s always opportunity in August,” Avila said Monday. “There’s going to be plenty of players that were available at the deadline that were not traded.”The A’s have had 12 different pitchers make at least one start this year. Sean Manaea is 10-7 with a 3.38 ERA, and Trevor Cahill has been solid when healthy. Oakland recently added veteran Edwin Jackson, who is 3-2 with a 2.87 ERA in eight starts for the A’s.Fiers enters that mix, and he’s enjoyed a nice stretch of late. He’s 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA over his last seven starts.“Mike is happy to get an opportunity to go pitch in a playoff race, and we’re losing a really good pitcher that did a lot of good things here for us,” Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire said in Anaheim before the Tigers opened a three-game series against the Angels. “So now we’ve got to fill a hole, but I’m happy for him to get this opportunity. It’s a pretty nice time to pitch in the playoffs Elvis Andrus Jersey , and on a run like this, and try to win a World Series ring, so good for him.”Fiers left his most recent outing, Wednesday against Cincinnati, with a bruised left shin, but he was not expected to miss any more time. Gardenhire believes Fiers played an important role with the Tigers’ young pitching staff during his short time in Detroit.“He knows how to pitch, and I think some of our guys benefited from that,” Gardenhire said. “He’s not an overpowering guy … but that’s an art in itself. In the playoffs, when you’re looking for somebody that can come in and not panic, that’s what you need. You’re not going to be put in deep holes with (Fiers on the mound).”Fiers’ exit means another chance for Jacob Turner, who is now slated to take Fiers’ scheduled start Tuesday night. Turner was once one of the top prospects in the Detroit system. He was traded in 2012 in the deal that brought Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers from the Marlins.Detroit signed Turner, now 27, to a minor league deal in June. He’s 14-30 with a 5.26 ERA in 101 big league appearances with five teams. He was expected to fly into the Los Angeles area on Monday night.“He’s been throwing well Ivan Rodriguez Jersey ,” Gardenhire said. “He was the guy that everybody recommended again, and he’s a guy that’s ready to pitch tomorrow. It’s his turn, so we’ll see.”The A’s also designated left-hander Jeremy Bleich for assignment and optioned second baseman Franklin Barreto to Triple-A Nashville.Oakland acquired reliever Shawn Kelley from the Washington Nationals on Sunday for $500,000 in international slot money. Washington agreed to send $1,491,828 to Oakland, which covers a portion of the $1,655,914 remaining in Kelley’s $5.5 million salary. That means Oakland pays a prorated share of the $545,000 minimum over the season’s final eight weeks.