Jose De Leon beat the San Diego Padres in his major league debut Saturday. (Thomas Cordova/Staff photographer)
Julio Urias will make his 12th start of the season for the Dodgers on Saturday, and his second against the Chicago Cubs. (Getty Images)
Is this the weekend the Dodgers unveil the future of their starting rotation?
Continue reading “Dodgers tab Julio Urias to start Saturday; could Jose De Leon follow?” »
Kenta Maeda allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. (Denver Post photo)
Kenta Maeda helped the Dodgers avoid a sweep by pitching 5 ⅔ innings in a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. The box score is here.
If Bud Norris goes on the 15-day disabled list because of his back injury, the identity of Saturday’s starter against the Boston Red Sox is TBD.
Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings in his only start this season on July 7. He was placed on the disabled list Tuesday. (Keith Birmingham/Staff photographer)
The Dodgers placed Hyun-Jin Ryu on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with left elbow tendinitis, and suddenly need a pitcher to start Wednesday against the Washington Nationals.
The Dodgers also placed reliever Casey Fien on the 15-day DL with tendinitis in his right elbow retroactive to Sunday. Outfielder Joc Pederson, whose rehab assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City is over, was activated from the disabled list, and left-handed reliever Luis Avilan was recalled from Triple-A.
Ryu missed all of 2015, and the first three months of the 2016 regular season, while rehabbing from left shoulder labrum surgery. He returned July 7 against the San Diego Padres and allowed six runs in 4 ⅔ innings, suffering the loss. That remains his only major league start to this point in the season.
An MRI on Ryu’s left elbow showed no changes from his previous MRI.
Jose De Leon is scheduled to pitch for Oklahoma City on Wednesday. The Triple-A Dodgers are currently in Tacoma, Washington. De Leon, a 23-year-old right-hander, has yet to make his major league debut.
Brock Stewart, a 24-year-old right-hander, has made one spot start for the Dodgers already this season and was scheduled to start for Oklahoma City tonight. It’s possible the Dodgers could give Stewart an extra day’s rest before his second cup of coffee in the big leagues.
Carlos Frias is scheduled to start Monday for Triple-A Oklahoma City, but could make a spot start for the Dodgers on Wednesday instead. (Associated Press photo)
PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers still haven’t identified which pitcher will start Wednesday in Milwaukee.
The front-runner would be right-hander Carlos Frias, who is still listed as the starting pitcher for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday, but for a minor procedural problem. He was optioned to Triple-A June 21 and therefore isn’t eligible to be recalled until July 1 per MLB rules. An exception can be made when another player is injured, so any lingering hangnails between now and Wednesday could vault Frias into the Dodgers’ rotation.
Frias has thrown 36 ⅔ innings at Double-A and Triple-A this season since returning from an oblique injury at the start of the season. He has a combined 3.93 ERA across a mix of good and bad outings. The last one was good: 5 ⅓ innings of shutout ball Wednesday in Oklahoma City against Round Rock.
Frias would be pitching with an extra two days’ rest, however. Brock Stewart, who started only the third Triple-A game of his career Friday, is already lined up to start Wednesday on regular rest. The 24-year-old right-hander has performed well at Oklahoma City (six earned runs, 27 strikeouts in 18 ⅔ innings) in a small sample size. Stewart, the Dodgers’ sixth-round pick in 2014 out of Illinois State, began the year at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Dave Roberts didn’t rule out Stewart in his pregame scrum Sunday. He did rule out right-hander Mike Bolsinger, and previously ruled out Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy. Ross Stripling is out; he’ll piggyback off Ryu’s next rehab start for Oklahoma City on Tuesday. So is prospect Jose De Leon, who threw 77 pitches in 3 ⅓ innings Saturday, and Nick Tepesch, who was designated for assignment after his spot start Friday.
Roberts did say the team is looking internally and that a bullpen game is unlikely:
Continue reading “Dodgers’ Wednesday starter remains to be determined.” »