The Dodgers called up Landon Knack to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Marlins in Miami, at an inflection point for pitching staff usage on the sixth day of a 10-game road trip.
J.P. Feyereisen, who was called up as the fresh arm on Tuesday and took the loss in the 10th inning, was optioned to Oklahoma City.
It might not be the only move, as Matt Sauer was originally listed to start for Oklahoma City on Wednesday but did not. He’s in Miami, reported Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Sauer was optioned to Triple-A on April 30, one day after pitching five innings in bulk relief for his first major league win. The only way be can be called back up to the majors within 15 is to replace an injured player, or someone going on the bereavement list, or paternity list.
More on this if and when another move is made. But here’s why such a move is probably necessary today.
The Dodgers have gotten mostly good, or at least good-adjacent performances from the depleted rotation over the last week and a half. In the eight games since Tyler Glasnow left early with a shoulder injury, the Dodgers have gotten at least five innings out of someone in seven of their last eight games. Only Ben Casparius, who is stretching out from a bulk relief role, fell short during this stretch, with four innings on Sunday.
The last eight “starters” have averaged 5.25 innings in those games, with a 3.64 ERA.
The strain on the bullpen remains, as Dodgers relievers are still the most prolific in the sport. Even if we reassign Sauer’s five innings from April 29 and the Monday Casparius outing as starts, and shift Jack Dreyer’s opening roles in those games as relief, the Dodgers bullpen is up to 151⅓ innings this season, an average of 4.2 innings per game.
If you’re looking for some silver lining, the Dodgers’ opponent on Wednesday, the Marlins, are averaging 4.25 innings from their relievers, but have played one fewer game than the Dodgers so have fewer total innings.
Still, Wednesday specifically represents a tough task for the pitching staff, with an almost urgent need for Knack to pitch deep against the Marlins, no matter the results.
Even with those mostly fine and nearly deep starts or bulk outings over the last eight games, the bullpen is in a rough spot heading into Wednesday.
Anthony Banda, Luis García, and Alex Vesia have all pitched on three of the previous four days, and are likely unavailable on Wednesday. No Dodgers pitcher has pitched four times in a five-day stretch this season.
Tanner Scott pitched the last two nights. He’s probably out too, as no Dodger has pitched on three consecutive days this season.
That leaves Evan Phillips, who is by far the most rested reliever with only one appearance in the last four days, Kirby Yates, who pitched three times in four days before resting Tuesday, and Dreyer, who pitched Sunday and Monday but did not pitch Tuesday.
The Yoendrys Gómez outing on Monday was probably the domino that led to this paucity of available arms. He entered the game with a six-run lead and was pretty clearly going to get the final six outs of that game. Instead, he gave up a three-run home run and was pulled after only one out. Scott and Phillips had to be used on Monday, which led to Scott being likely unavailable on Wednesday, plus Phillips could have likely been the choice in the 10th inning on Tuesday instead of Feyereisen had he not been used on Monday.
But things like this are bound to happen when you ask a bullpen to do so much, and it only gets exacerbated with long stretches with minimal days off. The Dodgers still have two weeks remaining in their trek of 19 games in 20 days.