Smith earns another start after stellar debut

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he would throw rookie catcher Will Smith right into the fire, and he proved it by starting his newest player for a second consecutive game on Wednesday night with Walker Buehler on the mound.

Smith’s Tuesday night debut was one reason, as the 24-year-old singled in his first MLB at-bat, added a double and threw out a runner trying to steal second base.

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“I thought Will had a very good debut, and it was fun to see how he composed himself,” said Roberts.

Another reason for starting Smith against Mets flamethrower Noah Syndergaard is Roberts’ desire to have veteran Russell Martin catch Hyun-Jin Ryu on Thursday, keeping intact a pairing that has been successful this year.

In fact, while Roberts has often said he doesn’t like pairing starting pitchers with a specific catcher, it seems to be happening anyway.

Martin has caught seven of Ryu’s 10 starts and the last five. Ryu has a 1.54 ERA with Martin and a 1.93 ERA with Austin Barnes and Rocky Gale. By contrast, every start for the routine-obsessed Clayton Kershaw this year was caught by Barnes until (with Barnes now on the injured list) Tuesday night, when Martin caught Kershaw.

Prior to Wednesday night, Barnes had caught seven of Buehler’s 10 starts. Buehler’s ERA with Barnes catching is 2.57 and 6.75 between Martin and Gale. Barnes has caught twice as many games as Martin, who spent time on the injured list with a lower back strain. Barnes has caught seven of Kenta Maeda’s 10 starts. Martin has caught four of Rich Hill’s six starts.

Barnes, who suffered a slight left groin strain on Sunday, has resumed working out on the field and is likely to return next week.

Worth noting

• Roberts said the recent struggles of left-handed reliever Scott Alexander haven’t changed management’s decision to have lefty Julio Urias pitch multiple innings instead of becoming a lefty specialist. Alexander allowed left-handed-hitting Michael Conforto’s grand slam on Tuesday night.

“We don’t see him as a lefty specialist,” Roberts said of Urias, who continues to be handled with care two years after shoulder surgery. “To use him in short spurts, back to back, it’s a fair question. We thought about it, but right now we’ll stay the course and count on Scott to continue getting better.”

• Roberts said left-handed reliever Tony Cingrani, who hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers this year, underwent an MRI exam on his troublesome shoulder and the club was awaiting results.