San Diego @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 3, 2016 ) San Diego 1, LA Dodgers 5

The Los Angeles Dodgers may not have been quite ready to embrace a youth movement before the start of the season, but doing so may end up helping them earn their fourth straight National League West title. A little more than three months after seeing good friend and fellow top prospect Julio Urias make his debut with the Dodgers, Jose De Leon will do the same Sunday as Los Angeles attempts to take the rubber match of a three-game home set versus the San Diego Padres.

After getting off to a rough start as a then-19-year-old making his big-league debut, Urias has emerged as a key contributor lately, going 4-0 with 2.25 ERA since the All-Star break to give a much-needed lift to a Dodgers' rotation that already has cycled through 14 different starting pitchers. With Urias likely headed to the bullpen in the near future in an effort to keep his innings down, the 24-year-old De Leon — the club's No. 2 prospect — is set to become the fifth rookie in the last week alone to start a game for Los Angeles, which holds a two-game edge over San Francisco in the West. He'll have a tough act to follow after Rich Hill yielded one hit over six scoreless frames in Saturday's 5-1 win, sending San Diego to its fourth loss in five games. Although the Padres have managed to split the first two games, they are batting only .159 in this series.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FSN San Diego, SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Padres LH Christian Friedrich (4-10, 4.84 ERA) vs. Dodgers RH Jose De Leon (NR)
Friedrich may be making his last start of the season after nearly doubling his innings total from a season ago, as San Diego elected to skip him in the rotation during his last scheduled turn. The Illinois native, who has dropped each of his last eight decisions, gave up five runs over 5 1/3 innings to the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 23 before bouncing back with a scoreless relief frame at Atlanta on Tuesday. Friedrich has faced the Dodgers twice this season and took the loss against them July 10 after yielding three runs across five innings.
De Leon is slated to make his much-anticipated big-league debut Sunday after proving himself in 16 starts at Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, going 7-1 with a 2.61 ERA and 111 strikeouts over 86 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old has been especially dominant over his last three outings, posting a 0.83 ERA and 33:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. If he had enough innings to qualify, De Leon would lead the Pacific Coast League in ERA, strikeout rate (11.6), opponent batting average (.194) and WHIP (0.94).

WALK-OFFS
1. RF Josh Reddick on Saturday went 3-for-4 with his first home run in his 27th game for the Dodgers. He has seven hits in his last 13 at-bats during a four-game hitting streak after going 11-for-79 in his first 23 contests with Los Angeles.
2. The Padres have scored fewer than two runs six times in 15 meetings against the Dodgers this season, with four of Los Angeles' MLB-high 13 shutouts coming at their expense.
3. A victory Sunday would allow Los Angeles to win the season series (9-6) for the sixth consecutive season.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 6, Padres 3