ST. LOUIS — You can go home again – you just have to use a different door.
“It is a little bit different,” Dodgers utilityman Tommy Edman said of returning to his previous major-league home with the Dodgers’ series against the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend. “Walking into the stadium, you come in through the same entrance from the parking lot but a different door. So, it’s ‘Okay, this is a little bit different.’ Then to go to the visiting clubhouse which I had never actually been inside before – I’d been to this stadium for five years and I had to ask where the visiting batting cage and training room were.”
Drafted by the Cardinals in 2016, Edman made his major-league debut with them in June 2019 and spent five seasons in St. Louis before he was traded to the Dodgers last July. He won a Gold Glove at second base with the Cardinals and was a fixture on four playoff teams there.
He received a brief standing ovation from the crowd before his first at-bat on Friday night, stepping out and doffing his helmet in acknowledgement.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories here,” he said. “From getting called up here to all the postseason runs we had. Great people I met along the way.
“It was kind of abrupt last year, getting traded at the deadline seemingly out of nowhere. It was just a day there, packing up and heading out. I hadn’t been back to St. Louis since then. It’s been almost a year at this point now.”
The 2024 season was “all a blur,” said Edman who didn’t play until mid-August due to offseason wrist surgery and an ankle injury suffered while he was rehabbing. But he starred for the Dodgers during their run to the 2024 World Series title, winning the MVP award during the National League Championship Series.
He has been dealing with a different ankle injury recently. He injured it on a slide and spent 2½ weeks on the injured list in early May.
This week, Edman re-injured the same ankle but was out of the starting lineup for just two games before returning on Thursday.
“It got inflamed a little bit but I felt it was a pretty minor thing,” he said Friday. “The next day I woke up feeling pretty sore but then it started to feel better. Back to normal now.”
OHTANI WORK
Shohei Ohtani’s weekly live batting practice session will be moved to Monday this week.
The Dodgers play day games Saturday and Sunday and both days could be impacted by rain. Friday night’s pregame workout was cut short by rain and the start of the game was delayed 75 minutes.
“We’re thinking about Monday in San Diego with obviously the day games here, Saturday and Sunday,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think in San Diego Monday there’s more certainty with weather.”
This will be Ohtani’s third time throwing to hitters. He threw 22 pitches the first time, 29 during the most recent session last Saturday.
ROTATION MOVES
The Dodgers will shuffle their starting rotation this weekend to give right-hander Dustin May an extra day of rest before his next start.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start Sunday’s game in St. Louis on four days’ rest. May will move back and get six days of rest before starting Monday in San Diego.
When May went six innings against the New York Mets on Monday, he set new career-highs in starts (11) and innings pitched (61⅔) already this season. Because of injuries, he had never thrown a pitch in a major-league game during the month of June until last week’s start.
STRATTON RETURNS
Veteran right-hander Chris Stratton took a tour of baseball’s roster rules only to end up back where he started.
Stratton was designated for assignment by the Dodgers, cleared waivers and refused an assignment to the minor leagues. He became a free agent – and re-signed with the Dodgers on Friday.
Stratton was added to the roster and right-hander Ryan Loutos was designated for assignment. Loutos pitched two innings in Wednesday’s loss to the Mets and gave up three runs.
ALSO
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was promoted from Triple-A to make the start against the Cardinals on Friday. Right-hander Landon Knack was optioned back to Triple-A. Knack has a 5.12 ERA in nine appearances (seven starts) with the Dodgers this season.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6-4, 2.39 ERA) at Cardinals (RHP Erick Fedde, 3-5, 3.82 ERA), Saturday, 11:15 a.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM