Chad Billingsley Returns To Dodger Stadium Tuesday Night To Face Former Team
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Former Dodgers pitcher and first-round draft pick Chad Billingsley will make his return to Dodger Stadium Tuesday night, this time in an unfamiliar uniform. Billingsley will make his fifth start of the year for the Philadelphia Phillies as they take on the Dodgers in game two of the four-game series.
Billingsley pitched for the Dodgers from 2006-2013 and has the fourth most wins of all time for a Dodgers draft pick. He was selected 24th overall in the first round of the 2003 MLB First Year Player Draft by the Dodgers and made it to the big leagues in 2006.
During his tenure with the Dodgers, Billingsley managed to go 81-61, with a solid 3.65 ERA. He won as many as 16 games for the Dodgers in 2008 but was selected to his first and only All Star team in 2009. That year he went 12-11 with a 4.03 ERA, while striking out 169 batters.
Billingsley recorded 1,000 strikeouts for the Dodgers, making him part of an elite club of just 12 former Dodger pitchers.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Billingsley had a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, which would sideline him for the rest of the 2012 season.
Billingsley attempted to avoid major surgery by having plasma-injection therapy. However, after just two starts in the 2013 season, he felt elbow pain again and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, which resulted in him missing the rest of the 2013 season. After his performance deteriorated and injuries were plentiful, the Dodgers elected to make Billingsley a free agent in October.
He would later sign a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, although he did begin the 2015 season on the disabled list.
Billingsley returns to Dodger Stadium tonight with a career 41-27 record at Chavez Ravine, and also sports a 3.78 ERA in 102 career games pitched there.
This season, however, Billingsley is 0-2 in four games started with a 7.71 ERA in 21 innings pitched.
He will face Brett Anderson, who in his first year with the Dodgers has been phenomenal. Although he has an admirable 5-4 record, his ERA is at an even 3.00, and he has struck out 69 batters while only walking 26.
Anderson last lost a start on June 5 against the Cardinals, and in his last five starts is 3-0 with two no decisions. His last outing versus Arizona he went seven innings and only surrendered one run while striking out seven.
Anderson leads the entire major leagues with a 68.4 ground-ball percentage and has also induced 13 double plays this season.
The Dodgers enter Tuesday's game five games ahead of the rival San Francisco Giants in the NL West Division standings.
The Giants take on the Mets in San Francisco on Tuesday, as Bartolo Colon (9-6) will face the Giants' Matt Cain (0-1). Cain is making his second start of the year after starting the beginning of the year on the disabled list.
