Dodgers @ Pirates August 22, 2017: Stewart vs. Taillon; Wood, Bellinger to DL

(Via)

The Dodgers (88-35) and the Pirates (60-65) meet for game two of four in Pittsburgh tonight, despite thunderstorms threatening to delay the start time. It’ll be Brock Stewart (1.64 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 4.90 DRA) on the mound in a spot start for Los Angeles.

A reminder that this game is being simulcast on KTLA.

Dodgers
Pirates
4:05 p.m.
Pittsburgh
CF
Taylor
LF
Marte
SS
Seager
2B
Frazier
3B
Turner
CF
McCutchen
LF
Granderson
1B
Bell
C
Grandal
3B
Harrison
RF
Puig RF Jaso
1B
González
C
Díaz
2B
Forsythe
SS
Mercer
P
Stewart (R)
P
Taillon (R)

With Yu Darvish on the DL with a sore back, Stewart gets another shot at a start. Stewart has made two starts at the major league level this year, as well as seven relief appearances, between stints at Triple-A. His most recent appearance for the Dodgers was August 10, when he allowed two runs in 1.1 innings of relief. Stewart was recalled today from Oklahoma City, with Alex Wood being DL’d as the corresponding move (more on that in a bit).

Jameson Taillon (4.64 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 4.45 DRA) is a hard-throwing righty, with a four seamer and a sinker that average around 95 MPH and top out around 98 MPH. His best pitch is his curveball, which has induced a 13.5 percent whiff rate in 2017. Still, Taillon has struggled this year, despite strikeout and walk rates that are slightly better than league average. At least some of his struggles can be chalked up to bad luck with BABIP (yet to stabilize, as he’s only pitched 97 innings this season).

Taillon has faced the Dodgers once before in his career, in June of 2016 when he allowed four runs in four innings. You might remember that better as the Nick Tepesch game (though you couldn’t be blamed for not remembering that). Taillon missed time earlier this season while on the disabled list recovering from surgery for suspected testicular cancer, so it’s especially good to see him out there.

——

There was a lot of Dodger news today. First up is that Wood is officially hitting the DL with SC joint inflammation:

As Dustin wrote about earlier today, Wood’s velocity has been down of late. As it’s likely the result of fatigue, Dustin advocated a DL stint to allow him to get some rest. Well, that seems to be what’s happening.

This leaves the Dodgers without a starter for this Saturday at home against the Brewers. Per Dave Roberts, it won’t be Clayton Kershaw, who needs a rehab start and will likely be making one with OKC that Saturday. It also won’t be Walker Buehler. Roberts did, however, mention Ross Stripling as a possibility.

Two other speculated candidates are Fabio Castillo and Wilmer Font. Castillo is currently on the Triple-A seven-day DL. He has a combined Double-A and Triple-A 3.96 ERA across 86.1 IP this year. Font has a 3.58 ERA in 128.1 innings at Triple-A.

Cody Bellinger is still not back in the Dodgers’ starting lineup and could be DL-bound.

Not forcing Bellinger, and giving him some time to actually recover, truly wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Update

Bellinger is, indeed, going to the DL, with Josh Ravin being recalled to take his place.

A couple of other notes on injured Dodger starters:

These things would’ve been less consequential before the Dodgers ended up with basically an entire rotation on the disabled list.

About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.