Braves @ Dodgers June 9, 2018: Be careful out there, Alex Wood

Photo: Stacie Wheeler

The Dodgers won again last night, which is a good thing. However, they had another pitcher leave the game with an injury. Walker Buehler was removed with one out in the sixth inning. He threw two fastballs under 93 MPH to Johan Camargo, which raised some red flags. He was removed with hip soreness, presumably from being hit in the rib by a comebacker in a recent start. A “dong parade”, as Chad so eloquently put it in his recap, led the Dodgers to their 15th win in their last 20 games. Today, they’re looking for their sixth series win in their last seven series, with the other being a four-game split.

Braves
Dodgers
6:10 PM
Los Angeles
2B
Albies
SS
Taylor
SS
Swanson
3B
Muncy
1B
Freeman
LF
Kemp
RF
Markakis
1B
Bellinger
C
Flowers
RF
Puig
LF
Culberson
C
Grandal
CF
Inciarte CF Pederson
3B
Camargo
2B
Forsythe
P
Sanchez (R)
P
Wood (L)

Alex Wood is coming off his worst start of the season and arguably one of the worst starts of his career. He needed 61 pitches to get through two innings at Satan Field, where he allowed five hits and six runs and walked three batters. He’s always struggled in Colorado (26 earned runs allowed in 24 innings), so hopefully that was just a blip on the radar. His 4.9 percent walk rate is still top-10 among qualified starters in baseball and he the fifth-largest gap between his ERA (4.48) and FIP (3.52) in baseball, so there’s still reason to believe he’s capable of giving the Dodgers a good outing.

Anibal Sanchez gets his fifth start of the season and sixth appearance overall. He’s back in the NL for the first time since 2012 after five and a half seasons with the Tigers, and it’s gone well so far. In 25 innings, Sanchez has a 2.16 ERA and a 21:9 K:BB ratio. He’s coming off a start against the Nationals during which he allowed only two hits and two unearned runs over seven innings.

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Buehler’s next start could be in jeopardy.

Bruised ribs don’t seem to be very fun.

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Dennis Santana‘s prognosis is a little more clear today.

A three-part news tweet. Santana is on the 60-day DL with a rotator cuff strain, not a lat issue. That seems worse. He won’t be eligible to return until August. Pat Venditte allowed three hits and a run in 2/3s of an inning last night and has been sent down. Daniel Corcino is up for the first time since making five appearances for the Cincinnati Reds in 2014. In 14 appearances (six starts) in the minors this season, Corcino owns a 3.43 ERA.

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While seemingly all the Dodger pitchers are getting hurt, some may be back from the DL in the near future.

Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill could both be back in the next week or so. Depending on the severity of Buehler’s injury, the Dodgers could possibly have five healthy-ish starters in the near future.

About Alex Campos

I've been writing about the Dodgers since I graduated from Long Beach State, where I covered the Dirtbags in my senior year. I'm either very good or very bad at puns.