Every Dodgers fan knows the injury woes of the pitching staff so far this season. Both the starting rotation and bullpen have been hit hard with injuries. Those who are still standing have had to face a lot more usage. The issue has been that the starters have not been able to go long into games, leading to even more usage from the bullpen.
The key to fixing that, of course, is for starters to go longer into games. So far that hasn’t been working out so well.
Dodgers starters are among the teams with the greatest number of pitches per inning thrown by their starters in all of the majors. Manager Dave Roberts would like to see that change. From Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic:
“I think there’s a lack of efficiency,” Roberts said. “I think we’ve had a handful of starts that have gone less than three innings where guys have had to take on more. Early on in the season I was mindful of making sure guys got their feet under them. Now that they’ve got their footing I feel more comfortable extending them to the century mark with certain guys. I think all of that makes that maybe imperfect storm.”
Another fallout of having less starters is that those starters who normally have six days between starts, Yoshinubo Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, now are making starts on five days rest. It did not go well for Yamamoto on Thursday, allowing a grand slam and only lasting five innings. Sasaki had a rough first inning on Friday, allowing three runs from two home runs, He ultimately only made it four-plus innings after having walked the first batter of the game, and going 61 pitches. Roberts felt comfortable going to the bullpen early as the Dodgers had had back-to-back games using only two pitchers – that won’t always be the case. Tony Gonsolin will be making his third start of the season Sunday, on just four days rest.
On Friday, Tommy Edman did some running and took some at bats against live pitching, but is still feeling discomfort in his ankle while running. Edman will face more live pitching next week, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
When Evan Phillips went on the injured on Wednesday, Roberts expected that Phillips would be back after the minimum 15 days, but that won’t be the case. Roberts revealed on Friday that the MRI showed no structural damage, but that the team intends to handle Phillips’ recovery cautiously, and it will be a few weeks before he returns to throwing.
From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Regsiter:
“It’s inflammation in his elbow so it’s just going to take some time,” Roberts said. “We’re going to take some time with Evan because as we said from the outset he’s so valuable going forward we have to be mindful and cautious with the buildup.”