The Dodgers’ bullpen acquired an surprising, and badly wanted, reprieve Tuesday night time.
Getting into the day, no staff had relied upon its relievers extra closely. Because of accidents and ineffectiveness from the beginning rotation, the bullpen’s 126 innings had been far and away probably the most within the majors.
Now, they had been staring down a second designated bullpen recreation already on this opening month.
Solely this time, they had been in a position to steer clear of their most vital arms.
As a substitute, in a 15-2 win over the Miami Marlins, the Dodgers’ deliberate bullpen recreation reworked right into a bulk effort — with minor-league call-up Matt Sauer offering an all-important five-inning effort that saved the bullpen in a manner the Dodgers’ rotation has too usually did not to this point this 12 months.
As early-season pitching accidents have piled up for the Dodgers, the bullpen has been strained as a way to compensate.
Getting into Tuesday, solely 10 groups had even topped 110 innings from relievers this 12 months. The Dodgers had six relievers with greater than 13 innings pitched individually. No different membership had greater than 4.
“I feel the factor that’s in all probability most disconcerting is the bullpen main Main League Baseball in bullpen innings,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Monday, after Tyler Glasnow turned the most recent member of the beginning employees to land on the injured record.
“That’s the place my head is at,” Roberts added, “so far as ensuring we don’t red-line these guys.”
That can be no straightforward job over the subsequent couple of weeks. Beginning Friday, the Dodgers will play 19 video games in a 20-day stretch. And with Glasnow and Blake Snell at the moment on the IL, they’ll start it with simply 4 wholesome starters on their lively roster.
“We thought our starters can be a place of energy for us from a workload standpoint, and sadly we lead all of baseball in innings for relievers,” pitching coach Mark Prior mentioned Tuesday afternoon. “Generally that’s a very good factor. However this early within the 12 months, it’s in all probability not.”
Particularly not after what the relievers did final October, combining for 82 innings in a grueling World Sequence run.
“Guys did some actually heavy lifting,” Prior mentioned.
And a brief offseason solely gave them a lot time to get better.
Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech each began the season on the injured record, nursing accidents they sustained within the playoffs. Whereas Phillips has since returned, one other key member of final 12 months’s staff, Blake Treinen, has since gone down with a forearm pressure.
It made Tuesday a seemingly daunting job, with the Dodgers choosing the kind of bullpen-game technique they used too usually final October.
The excellent news: It performed out far in a different way than anticipated.
Rookie left-hander Jack Dreyer took down the primary two innings, giving up a lone run after Teoscar Hernández misplayed a ball in proper subject.
Then Sauer, a 26-year-old right-hander signed to a minor-league contract this offseason, took over for the subsequent 5, giving up only one run on 5 hits whereas amassing 4 strikeouts.
That allowed the Dodgers (20-10) to go to work on the plate.
Shohei Ohtani led the sport off with a house run, his seventh of the season and first since coming back from the paternity record final week.
Hernández atoned for his defensive miscue with two run-scoring doubles, tying him with Aaron Choose for probably the most RBIs within the majors with 29.
Mookie Betts had a two-run single as a part of a two-hit efficiency, elevating his batting common to .240 as he continues to try to snap his opening-month hunch.
And former Cy Younger-winning Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara by no means discovered his footing, exiting within the third inning with the Dodgers forward 7-1.
The lead continued to develop from there, a lot in order that, after low-leverage right-hander Luis García pitched the eighth, utilityman Kiké Hernández took the mound for the ninth, a plastic “pitching helmet” overlaying his cap.
