by Megan Garcia
Dave Roberts glanced at a sheet of paper that detailed the updates of players on the injured list before Tuesday’s game. It was a long list, he noted, and proceeded to share how players were progressing.
He mentioned another potential roster move to the pitching staff, but didn’t dive into details. The revolving door would continue to spin.
The looming IL stint was announced before the first pitch between the A’s and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium — Roki Sasaki was diagnosed with a right shoulder impingement, putting him on the injured list.
It was another bump in the road for a starting rotation struggling to get length out of its starters.
“He wanted to continue to go and persevere and fight through everything until he felt that his performance was going to be compromised,” Roberts said.
With Sasaki’s IL stint, the Dodgers have four starters (Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw) on the injured list.
Kershaw, however, is scheduled to be activated on Saturday to make his first start of the season against the Angels. He made five rehab assignments and in 21 innings allowed 12 hits and six earned runs (2.57 ERA) while recording 16 strikeouts to five walks.
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“With Clayton just being back, I think it just adds an element of certainty and performance,” Roberts said ahead of Tuesday’s game.
But the veteran skipper turned his attention to his rookie pitcher following the Dodgers’ 11–1 loss to the A’s.
Sasaki alerted the team following his May 9 start in Arizona, where he allowed a career-high five earned runs in four innings pitched. It put his ERA at 4.72 in eight starts to begin his Major League career.
Roberts acknowledged that Sasaki wasn’t expected to go bell to bell this season — not for a 23-year-old in his first Major League season.
“As we’ve done with most of our pitchers, potentially all of our pitchers, is to err on the side of caution. So, that’s why we felt to put him on the IL,” Roberts said. “Let this thing calm down and build him back to where he is, and he can be 100% and then get him back out there.”
The Dodgers dealt with pitching injuries last season, which was a significant reason for a franchise-record-setting 40 pitchers used over the course of the season. Seventeen different pitchers started games.
The Dodgers are up to 24 pitchers this season — including position players Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernández.
The Dodgers have 27 starts of at least five innings this season — 26th in the Majors. They have 10 starts of at least six innings — tied for 27th.
The Dodgers lead the Majors with 178 2/3 reliever innings.
They go to Yoshinobu Yamamoto tonight against the A’s. He has logged at least five innings in all eight of his starts.
Then it’s a bullpen game on Thursday.
If Snell’s orthopedic appointment on Tuesday went well, he will begin a throwing program. Glasnow is inching toward a bullpen session during this homestand.
Then, there’s Kershaw, whose timing couldn’t be better.
“Clayton has worked really hard to get healthy,” Roberts said. “The bar is high for him. He doesn’t want to just come back to be active, he wants to come back and help us win baseball games and be good.”
Dodger starting rotation rides the roller coaster early in 2025 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.