The Dodgers on Sunday recalled right-hander Noah Davis from Triple-A Oklahoma City ahead of their series finale against the Royals, and designated Luis García for assignment after the veteran right-hander pitched in each of the last two games.
The latter move also created room on the 40-man roster for reliever Edgardo Henriquez to be activated off the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A, where he’s been pitching on a rehab assignment for the last month. Henriquez was on the injured list for the first 84 games of the season after a left foot fracture that was suffered in an undisclosed off-field incident during spring training.
Henriquez pitched in 12 games on his rehab assignment, with a 6.75 ERA, 16 strikeouts, and six walks in 12 innings. He was much better over the last two and a half weeks, allowing just one run over his last seven appearances and eight innings, with 10 strikeouts against only one walk.
García was just activated off his own injured list stint on Thursday after missing a month with a right adductor strain. The 38-year-old right-hander had a 5.27 ERA with 24 strikeouts and 12 unintentional walks in 27⅓ innings. He allowed three runs in relief in Saturday’s loss to Kansas City.
García was a busy man during his time with the Dodgers. In the 58 games for which he was active, he pitched in 28, most on the team during that time, and one more than Alex Vesia.
This is the fourth stint in the majors this season for Davis, who was acquired from the Red Sox for cash considerations on March 27.
With Oklahoma City he had a 4.34 ERA in 29 innings with 35 strikeouts and 15 walks. Davis last pitched on June 21, which definitely qualifies him as a fresh arm, which the Dodgers constantly need.
This all ties back to why Emmet Sheehan was optioned on June 19. One of Sheehan or Justin Wrobleski were going to get optioned the day after pitching starter-level innings the night before, because the Dodgers were going to use the roster spot for a fresh reliever rather than carry six starters and a short bullpen for another two weeks. Since Sheehan was optioned, that one roster spot has been occupied by Jack Little, Will Klein, and García, who have pitched in five of the nine games through Saturday and accounted for seven innings that the higher-leverage arms in the bullpen didn’t have to cover. Now Davis takes that spot.