Hyun-Jin Ryu is 3-2 with a 3.00 earned-run average in seven starts this season for the Dodgers. (Sarah Reingewirtz/Staff photographer)
Manager Don Mattingly told reporters in Miami that the injury isn’t considered serious and no MRI has been scheduled for Ryu. The DL stint is retroactive to April 28 and Ryu so if Ryu misses only the minimum 15 days, he’ll be eligible to return May 13.
The Dodgers’ schedule offers no favors: The team has no off-days between now and May 13. Who will start Sunday?
It won’t be Clayton Kershaw, who is expected to come off the disabled list and start Tuesday in Washington, D.C. He made a rehab start at Double-A Chattanooga on Wednesday and threw a bullpen session Friday. The team won’t let him make his first start since Opening Day on short rest.
It won’t be Red Patterson, who started the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader in Minnesota and was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque Friday. It won’t be right-hander Zach Lee, who is pitching tonight for Albuquerque, or Simi Valley native Matt Magill, who pitched 6 ⅔ innings Thursday.
That leaves the Dodgers with one healthy starting pitcher on their 40-man roster who isn’t in the major leagues: Right-hander Stephen Fife. Fife is 1-2 with a 7.08 earned-run average for Albuquerque, but has only allowed one run in his last 10 innings, a span of three appearances. On Wednesday, he pitched one scoreless inning in a rare relief appearance.
Fife would be in line to make one more start — likely May 9 against the San Francisco Giants — before Ryu is eligible to return.
In corresponding moves Friday, the Dodgers also returned left-handed pitcher Paco Rodriguez to Albuquerque and recalled Chone Figgins and pitcher Jose Dominguez from their Triple-A affiliate.
