Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodger bats remained quiet against Matthew Boyd and the rest of the Guardian pitching staff last night, managing only six hits and one Shohei Ohtani solo homer in a 3-1 loss. Landon Knack was good in his return, and his role might be expanding with yet another rotation injury to Gavin Stone. That wasn’t the only injury news last night, as Teoscar Hernandez was hit by a pitch in the first inning and had to leave the game. Chris Taylor took over in left and struck out twice. He didn’t strike out in the eighth with the bases loaded, but that would have been preferred as he grounded into an inning-ending double play. Emmanuel Clase (who let the record show, Allan called “mid” in multiple texts before the season) closed out the ninth with only seven pitches, and the Dodgers lead in the West is now down to four. Stone was lined up to start tonight, but now that’ll be Ryan Brasier as the opener with Justin Wrobleski making a return after a rough start last week.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 6:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Kwan (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 2B | Gimenez (L) | RF | Betts |
| 3B | Ramirez (S) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Naylor (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| DH | Fry | CF | Edman (S) |
| CF | Schneemann (L) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| RF | Thomas | SS | Rojas |
| SS | Rocchio (S) | LF | Pages |
| C | Hedges | C | Barnes |
| P | Williams (R) | P | Brasier (R) |
Wrobleski made a spot start in Arizona on Sunday. The quickest way to talk about how that game went: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Hernandez were all pulled after two innings. He worked around a walk in the first inning, but allowed eight runs on seven hits in the second. The Dodgers needed length out of Wrobleski and he was forced to wear it, allowing two more runs after the second. He did get into the sixth and allowed the Dodgers to only use one other reliever (Michael Grove, and the game got out of hand enough that Enrique Hernandez pitched the final inning). Wrobleski allowed nearly as many runs in that game (10) as he had in his five other Major League starts combined (13).
Update: Apparently Wrobleski might not appear today and it might be a bullpen game. Naturally I didn’t see this until after already scheduling this post. Carry on.
Cleveland also had to change up their starter as Alex Cobb was scratched with a blister. Instead it’ll be Gavin Williams making his 13th start of the season. Williams has a 4.55 ERA in 59 1/3 innings this season, but is coming off arguably his best start of the season in Kansas City. Williams allowed a run on one hit and two walks over a season-high seven innings with six strikeouts against the Royals. All the damage came in the first two innings, as he worked around a Bobby Witt Jr. walk and stolen base in the first. In the second, Williams started with a pair of strikeouts but walked Yuli Gurriel, who stole second and scored on a Maikel Garcia double. That was the last baserunner Williams would allow, as he got through seven to lead the Guardians to a 4-2 win. It was only their fourth win in his 12 starts, which is pretty impressive for a team 21 games over .500. The Dodgers are responsible for the worst start of Williams’ short career. Last August, the Dodgers put up five earned runs (and two unearned) on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings off Williams in Cleveland. He served up Michael Busch‘s first career homer and one of the two he hit as a Dodger.
Among starters with over 50 innings thrown this season, Williams has the eighth-fastest average fastball velocity in baseball (96.8 MPH). It feels a bit disingenuous comparing 50 innings of fastballs to pitchers with like twice as many innings pitched (the next fewest innings in the top-10 is Jared Jones at 101.1 innings). Williams has thrown the fastball 52.3 percent of the time, making it by far his most-used pitch. He’s also thrown a curve 20.9 percent of the time, cutter 10.8 percent of the time, slider 9.8 percent of the time and change 6.1 percent. He’s only allowed a .158 batting average off the curve, but six of the 10 hits allowed off it have been for extra bases (three doubles, a triple and two homers).
Andy Pages gets the start in left today with Teo out. Austin Barnes starts behind the plate for Will Smith, who likely gets the pleasure of starting a 1:10 game in tomorrow’s heat.
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In positive news, the Dodgers will be shorthanded for a few days as Hernandez will seemingly be able to avoid the IL.
Teoscar Hernández said all scans on his foot came back clean. Feeling much better today and thinks he can be back in the lineup on Monday or Tuesday. Ball had hit him towards the ankle, on the outer part of his left foot.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) September 7, 2024
His x-ray last night was negative and all his scans reportedly came back clean. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup Monday or Tuesday when the Dodgers welcome the Cubs to town.
Brusdar Graterol‘s return could come as soon as tomorrow.
The Dodgers are expecting to activate Brusdar Graterol in the next couple days, Dave Roberts said.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) September 7, 2024
It feels miraculous that that hamstring injury didn’t end his season. He threw a scoreless inning last night for OKC, and seemingly that’ll be his final rehab appearance this time around. He’s expected to return in the next couple days and reportedly could be back tomorrow if they need a bullpen reinforcement.
Speaking of reinforcements, Tyler Glasnow took the next step in his recovery.
Dave Roberts said Glasnow threw 15-20 pitches, all fastballs
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) September 7, 2024
He is schedule for a more “aggressive” ‘pen on Tuesday (using full pitch mix) then could be ready for a sim game https://t.co/Fsx53I9hvL
Glasnow threw off a mound for the first time since hitting the IL with elbow tendonitis. He’ll throw another bullpen on Tuesday and could throw a sim game shortly after.
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First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
