Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers suffered arguably their most depressing defeat of the season last night. A 6-2 loss to the team with the best record in the NL isn’t egregious, but the anticipated (and much-needed) return of Brusdar Graterol lasted all of eight pitches before he suffered a hamstring strain that landed him right back on the IL. The loss prevented the Dodgers from moving into the top spot in the NL, and Diamondback and Padre wins meant the Dodgers only lead the NL West by four games. The last time they led by fewer than four games was April 28. Tonight, they look for a series win against the Phillies as Gavin Stone looks to bounce back from his recent struggles.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| DH | Schwarber (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| SS | Turner | LF | T. Hernández |
| 1B | Harper (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 3B | Bohm | 3B | K. Hernández |
| CF | Marsh (L) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| C | Realmuto | SS | Rojas |
| RF | Castellanos | RF | Heyward (L) |
| 2B | Stott (L) | C | Barnes |
| LF | Hays | CF | Kiermaier (L) |
| P | Phillips (R) | P | Stone (R) |
Stone is rapidly approaching his career-high in innings as a professional, and has started to show some signs of fading. He’s at 111 2/3 innings pitched this season, only 10 innings shy of his 121 2/3 that he threw across three minor league levels in 2022. At the end of June, Stone had a 2.73 ERA and was coming off not only the best start of his career, but one of the best starts by a Dodger pitcher in recent memory. He allowed four hits in a complete game shutout against the White Sox, but since then things have taken a turn. He allowed four runs in three of his four starts in July and started August off with a rough start in Oakland, allowing five runs in four innings. Stone went five or more innings in 13 of his first 15 starts, but has only done so twice in the last five starts. He came close in Philadelphia in his last start before the All-Star break, as he was pulled with two outs in the fifth after allowing a triple, double and single. Anthony Banda came in and allowed Stone’s fourth run to score. He’s been working against a .395 BABIP against in the last five starts and there isn’t a notable difference in his exit velocities or barrel rates, so it could just be a streak of bad luck. His 18.5 percent strikeout rate probably isn’t doing him many favors, and he only struck out three batters in his four July starts. He got the strikeout numbers up a little in his last start as he punched out five A’s.
Tyler Phillips makes his sixth career appearance and fifth career start today. Phillips had a very good first month of the season, with a 1.80 ERA in four July starts. He allowed four runs against the A’s in his second career start but recovered from that with back-to-back scoreless outings, the second of which being a complete game shutout. His first August start was pretty much the opposite of that. He allowed eight runs and three homers in 1 2/3 innings in Seattle and was chased from the game after allowing a Justin Turner grand slam. Phillips wasn’t exactly a notable prospect, as he wasn’t on their top-30 prospect list on Pipeline and had a 4.89 ERA in AAA before being called up.
Phillips has mostly used his sweeper (34.3 percent) and sinker (33 percent) in his Major League career. His sweeper has been effective, with a .216 batting average and .432 slugging percentage against. 12 of his 18 career strikeouts have come on the sweeper, and he has a 33.9 percent whiff rate on it. His sinker has been less good, with a .296 average and .704 slugging against. Three of the six homers he’s allowed have come on it and five of the eight hits he’s allowed off the sinker have gone for extra bases. He’s also thrown a four-seamer (14.4 percent), curve (13 percent) and changeup (5.3 percent).
That certainly is a lineup alright. Will Smith sits with Austin Barnes getting the start behind the plate. Miguel Rojas makes his return from the IL and slots right back in at short. Kevin Kiermaier gets the start in center behind Stone.
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Graterol was placed on the IL and James Outman was optioned back to OKC. Rojas takes Outman’s spot on the roster, and Michael Grove makes his return from the IL.
The Dodgers activated IF Miguel Rojas and RHP Michael Grove, optioned OF James Outman and placed RHP Brusdar Graterol on the injured list.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 7, 2024
Grove last pitched on June 15 against the Royals after a rib issue kept him out for nearly two months. He could give the Dodgers a bit of the length they lost from Ryan Yarbrough‘s departure, though they did let Brent Honeywell Jr. wear it yesterday for some reason.
Some positive news on Graterol.
Upon further review, Brusdar Graterol’s season might not be over after all
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) August 8, 2024
Graterol has a Grade-1 hamstring strain, Dave Roberts said, not the Grade-3 strain they initially feared
Roberts said they are “hopeful” Graterol can still return this year, but timeline is TBD
The initial report yesterday was a grade-3 hamstring strain, which lined up with the amount of pain he looked to be in last night. Fortunately, an MRI revealed that the hammy isn’t fully torn and it was downgraded to a grade-1. Hamstrings are still tricky and it’s still possible 2024 is a wash, but there’s hope that he can still return this season.
The Dodgers could be getting a couple other guys back from injury next week, as Max Muncy and Tommy Edman will ship out to Oklahoma this weekend.
Max Muncy and Tommy Edman are expected to join OKC on rehab assignment this weekend. At least a week before joining #Dodgers
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 8, 2024
They’ll begin their rehab assignments and could be back in the somewhat near future. With Mookie Betts also expected back next week, reinforcements seem to be on the way.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
