The Dodgers added an extra relief pitcher for their series opener against the Angels, calling up right-hander Ryan Loutos from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon. Justin Wrobleski was optioned one day after pitching four scoreless innings to close out Thursday’s win over the A’s.
Wrobleski earned the win in the series finale against the A’s, but pitching those four innings made him unavailable for the next several days. The Dodgers are already going to jettison a pitcher on Saturday to activate Clayton Kershaw for his start, so this move gets them one more available arm on Friday.
It’s been a revolving door for this one roster spot since Roki Sasaki was placed on the injured list on Tuesday. J.P. Feyereisen was called up that day and pitched two innings in the series opener against the A’s, then was optioned Thursday so Wrobleski could team with Matt Sauer to essentially give the rest of the bullpen a reset day heading into the weekend.
The Dodgers acquired Loutos for cash from the Cardinals on May 1. He has an interesting backstory, as a computer science major out of Washington University, in St. Louis, who was signed by the Cardinals both to pitch and to help the front office build out an app to help minor leaguers in the system access information.
Loutos made his way to the majors, pitching three games in relief for the Cardinals. This year, the 26-year-old has a combined 2.38 ERA in 11 Triple-A games between Memphis and Oklahoma City, with eight strikeout and three walks in 11â…“ innings.
Since joining the Comets, Loutos had 3â…“ scoreless, hitless innings with two strikeouts and a walk, and one of his three saves on the season. He last pitched on Sunday, tossing a perfect ninth inning against Albuquerque.
Loutos will wear numbuniform number 65 with the Dodgers. If he gets into Friday’s game, he’ll be the 25th pitcher used by the Dodgers this season. Through Thursday, the Dodgers are tied with their Friday opponent for most pitchers used this season.