More Dodgers pitching woes: Gavin Stone placed on injured list
Just when the Dodgers thought their pitching staff was getting healthier, they announced yet another significant injury Friday.
Rookie right-hander Gavin Stone was placed on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation, the team said, leaving the 25-year-old’s status for the season’s final stretch unclear amid a breakout campaign.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Stone will be shut down for at least 10 days, then attempt to start throwing again.
While he didn’t rule Stone out for the season, it leaves an incredibly narrow window for the rookie to return in time for a potential playoff run.
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler has struggled to return from his second Tommy John surgery, but a few seemingly small changes have elevated his play.
“I’m optimistic he is going to do everything he possibly can,†Friedman said. “There’s just so much unknown around it.â€
In the meantime, starting pitchers Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski were called up from triple A and reliever Michael Peterson was optioned in a corresponding move.
Knack was set to start Friday night in the opener of a three-game series with Cleveland, while Wrobleski likely will fill in for Stone’s scheduled Saturday start.
Stone had been the one member of the Dodgers’ opening-day rotation not to go on the injured list while becoming just the fifth Dodgers pitcher in the last four years to make 25 starts in a season.
However, in start No. 25 last weekend in Arizona, Stone threw just 84 pitches in five innings before manager Dave Roberts decided he was out of gas and pulled him from the game.
While Stone said he felt he could have thrown 100 or more pitches, his condition apparently took a turn this week, with him reporting shoulder discomfort. It makes Stone the Dodgers’ latest rotation question mark — along with other current IL members Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw — with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
After top deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty, Stone seemed like the safest lock to be in the Dodgers’ potential postseason rotation.
In a reversal of his dismal debut last year, Stone blossomed with a new pitch mix, going 11-5 with a 3.53 earned-run average. With that success though, came a heavy workload. Stone’s 140 innings already had surpassed the career high he set last year of 131 between the majors and triple A.
Bobby Miller gives up five runs before getting anyone out as the Dodgers are routed by the Angels in Anaheim.
Without Stone, Walker Buehler figures to become a more important piece of the Dodgers’ pitching plans, after shaking off his early-season struggles in his last two starts.
The Dodgers entered Friday five games ahead of San Diego and 5½ ahead of Arizona in the National League West.
Stone stood to play a crucial role down the stretch. Instead, he is now yet another uncertainty as the staff continues to limp to October.
“We’re gonna do all we can to dominate each day, and hopefully when he starts throwing, he can ramp up from there,†Friedman said. “It’s just hard to speculate right now.â€
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