PHILADELPHIA — At this point, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts might have PTSD when it comes to starting pitcher injuries.
The Dodgers couldn’t make it to the All-Star break without subtracting another arm from their rotation. All-Star right-hander Tyler Glasnow was placed on the injured list on Tuesday with lower back tightness.
The issue cropped up when Glasnow was playing catch on Sunday, according to Roberts, and he did not make the trip to Philadelphia. It was not considered serious enough to require an MRI or other imaging.
Glasnow joins Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw on the IL (along with an assortment of relievers). The Dodgers’ starting rotation now consists of three rookies (Gavin Stone, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobelski), a near-rookie (Bobby Miller) and one veteran James Paxton.
“Interestingly enough, I’m unfazed by it,” Roberts said when asked if this felt familiar after last year’s rotation dissolved in the second half. “You just kind of pick up the pieces, or whatever pieces you have, and you readjust and move forward.
“It’s certainly not ideal. But my job is to keep this thing moving forward.”
Glasnow, 30, is 8-5 with a 3.47 ERA in his first season with the Dodgers. He was acquired in a December trade with Tampa Bay and received a $136.5 million, five-year contract extension as part of the deal that brought the former Hart High standout back home. He leads MLB with 143 strikeouts, the most for a Dodger before the All-Star Game since Clayton Kershaw had 159 in 2017. Glasnow’s 11.81 strikeout per nine innings is the second-best in baseball.
That Glasnow would end up on the IL at some point this season was a given. With 109 innings thrown already, he is just 11 short of his career-high and the Dodgers were certain to slow him down at some point with an eye toward October.
“It sort of lined up with the All-Star break. We obviously had been thinking about that, with no real idea when it might or might not happen,” Roberts acknowledged. “But with the back flare up, we just felt this is as good of a time as any.”
Roberts said the decision was not performance-related, but Glasnow gave up five runs in each of his last two starts and three of his last five before going on the IL.
“Looking at his stuff, there’s still 97s, 98s. When he clips a slider right, the slider is still really good. The curveball characteristics (are) still good. The velocity on the curveball. Arm speed, the body, all that stuff, it’s still holding,” Roberts said. “But the execution at times hasn’t been good.”
With Glasnow out, Wrobelski was not optioned back to Triple-A after his major-league debut Sunday as expected. Knack will start Thursday in Philadelphia. Wrobelski could start on four days of rest on Friday or the Dodgers could go with a bullpen game and push the rotation back a day.
“We haven’t completely decided that yet,” Roberts said.
Glasnow will be eligible to return on July 21.
Right-hander Michael Petersen was recalled Tuesday to take Glasnow’s spot on the roster.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to resume his minor-league injury rehabilitaiton assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday. Kershaw is expected to pitch three innings.
Kershaw started a rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on June 19 and threw 37 pitches in three innings. But he experienced soreness in his surgically-repaired shoulder following the start and required pain-killing injections before resuming his throwing program and facing hitters in a simulated-game setting last week.
Reds right-hander Hunter Greene was named to replace Glasnow on the National League All-Star team. …
After striking out two batters, right-hander Kyle Hurt left OKC’s game with a sore elbow on Thursday. Hurt will be shut down from throwing for a couple of weeks and then re-evaluated.
Dodgers (RHP Gavin Stone, 9-2, 3.03 ERA) at Phillies (LHP Christopher Sanchez, 6-4, 2.96 ERA), Wednesday, 4:05 p.m., ESPN, 570 AM
