LOS ANGELES — Adept at dealing with extreme challenges, the Dodgers will face another with right-hander Evan Phillips set to undergo Tommy John surgery on Wednesday.
Phillips is now lost for the season with the expectation he will return around the All-Star break next season.
Phillips last pitched May 5 before going on the injured list with right elbow inflammation and tried a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection two weeks ago to no avail. An MRI earlier this month showed inflammation but came with the ominous suggestion to stop throwing.
“It’s surprising,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “More disappointed for Evan, but he just wasn’t responding to the rest and then trying to ramp back up. Ultimately, (surgery) was kind of the advice and the route he decided to go.”
As a waiver claim in 2021, Phillips was yet another player who had marginal success before blossoming with the Dodgers. He delivered a 1.14 ERA in 64 outings in 2022 then had a combined 42 saves over the previous two seasons.
He pitched in the first two rounds of last season’s playoffs but was left off the World Series roster with what was considered arm fatigue. That issue was later identified as a partial tear in his rotator cuff.
“Any time you lose that quality of a reliever, both on the field and the impact he has around the other guys, obviously it’s going to hurt,” General Manager Brandon Gomes said. “But we have a really talented group that’s there right now and guys that should be coming back.”
That talented group, though, has been hit hard by its own injuries. Late-inning relievers like Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol also are on the injured list, although Kopech could be on his way back soon.
In his seven appearances this season, Phillips did not allow a run in 5⅔ innings while recording one save. In his five seasons with the Dodgers, he is 15-9 with a 2.22 ERA and 45 saves in 201 appearances.
THE SHORT OF IT
Injury issues are not just confined to the pitching staff, with shortstop Mookie Betts scratched from Friday’s starting lineup with a toe injury.
Roberts was not exactly clear how the injury happened but said it occurred after Betts returned home from the road trip when his infielder kicked “probably a dresser, nightstand, something like that.”
The injury is not considered serious but marks the second issue Betts has dealt with this season after a virus that kept him out at the start of the season.
“We’ll figure it out,” Gomes said. “We’ll handle it on the front end and make sure he’s fine whenever he gets in there. It’s a good part about having depth. Keep the train moving.”
Miguel Rojas started at shortstop on Friday night against the New York Yankees and batted ninth. It was just the fifth start at shortstop for Rojas this season after making 67 there last season and 108 in 2023.
In the midst of a breakthrough season as a defensive standout at shortstop, Betts is batting .254 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 53 games.
HELP ON THE WAY
The Dodgers sent their latest pitching acquisition to the team’s spring training complex at Glendale, Arizona.
Right-hander Alexis Diaz, who was acquired in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, will throw for members of the minor-league coaching staff in the desert with the possibility of altering some pitching mechanics.
Diaz, 28, was an All-Star in 2023 when he had 37 saves and a 3.07 ERA. He had 28 more saves last season with a 3.99 ERA. But he had a 12.00 ERA in six appearances this season and had been sent to Triple-A on May 1.
In 14 appearances at Triple-A Louisville this season, Diaz had a 4.61 ERA in 13⅔ innings.
“I don’t know the timeline,” Roberts said about how soon Diaz could be back in the major leagues. “I think that is really contingent on how soon he takes to some of the things that we see and how that goes. But I wouldn’t expect it to be too long before he joins us.”
ALSO
Shohei Ohtani is expected to throw live batting practice on Saturday, or possibly Sunday, as he tries to work his way back to pitch in a major league game for the first time since 2023. He threw 22 pitches in a live bullpen session last weekend when the team was in New York to play the Mets. … Short on starting pitching, Gomes said the club will not rush back injured starters Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki or Tyler Glasnow. “It’s just being mindful and methodical about the foundational component and the buildup so that when they come back, the thought is when they come back they’re running through what we hope is a deep October run,” Gomes said.
UP NEXT
Yankees (RHP Will Warren, 3-2, 4.09 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Landon Knack, 2-2, 5.22 ERA), Saturday, 4:15 p.m., FOX (Ch. 11), 570 AM