LOS ANGELES — Lately, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts heads to the clubhouse before each game and looks around to see who’s available to play. Checking the available pitchers has been a difficult task.
All 17 pitchers have, at some point this season, spent time on the injured list. That is, all except rookie right-hander Gavin Stone, who had shown up for every one of his turns in the rotation.
Until now.
Stone, who has been a stable presence on the mound for the Dodgers this season, was placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation on Friday, adding more uncertainty to a rotation that has been in flux all year.
Stone, 25, hasn’t been ruled out for the rest of this season, but the schedule makes a potential return challenging. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Stone is expected to be shut down for at least 10 days before he attempts to begin throwing again, which leaves a tight three-week window for him to return before the postseason begins.
“I’m optimistic he is gonna do everything he possibly can. There is just so much unknown around it,” Friedman said, adding that Stone felt some discomfort in his right shoulder after his outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday, when he threw 84 pitches in five innings before Roberts pulled him.
“We’re going to do everything all of us can do to dominate each day and hopefully when he starts throwing, he can ramp it up from there. It’s hard to speculate right now.”
Friedman and Roberts said watching Stone head to the IL was difficult considering the kind of season he has had. Across 25 games, he has compiled an 11-5 record with a 3.53 ERA and struck out 116 in 140⅓ innings.
“I hope we can get him back because this was a breakthrough year for him,” Roberts said. “He’s picked us up a lot. So, to potentially not see this through would be really disheartening.”
The Dodgers have four key starting pitchers waiting to come off the IL – Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Stone – and just three healthy starters – trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, who has shown some progress in recent weeks, and right-hander Bobby Miller, who has struggled. Friedman called it a “challenging year.”
“All of our focus right now is doing what we can to finish the season strong and be in position to win 11 games in October,” he said.
Yamamoto will be activated to start Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, but he’s been out since mid-June with a strained rotator cuff and isn’t likely ready to go beyond three to four innings. Glasnow, out since Aug. 11 with elbow tendinitis, will throw a bullpen session Saturday. Kershaw exited last Friday’s game against the Diamondbacks with a bone spur in his left big toe, and his timetable remains unclear.
Those injuries don’t include a quartet of young pitchers who have undergone major arm surgeries over the past 14 months – Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan and River Ryan.
Despite their starting pitching woes, the Dodgers have a chance to win the NL West for the 11th time in the last 12 years. They entered Friday five games ahead of the San Diego Padres and 5½ ahead of Arizona.
“We’re going to have enough pitching, but the names might be a little different. I don’t think anyone knows who or who’s not going to be part of it,” Roberts said. “It has been a more challenging year (but) we have a lot of depth and we’ve been able to give a lot of guys opportunities.”
KERSHAW STAYING BUSY
Friedman said while the toe issue has kept Kershaw off the mound, the three-time Cy Young Award winner continues to work his upper body.
“He’s still trying to figure it out. He’s keeping his arm going, which is great,” Friedman said. “We’re still trying to figure out the best way to provide relief and figuring that out is challenging. There’s not a playbook (that tells you) to do X, Y and Z and you’re good.”
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Friedman said he doesn’t anticipate the 36-year-old left-hander will need surgery in the offseason.
“It depends on the treatment, but I don’t anticipate that,” Friedman said. “We just need to figure out how to provide enough relief for him to be able to push off and use his lower half.
“Each day is better than the last one. We just need to figure out how to get him throwing 90 to 100 pitches in a comfortable enough way.”
OTHER MOVES
The Dodgers optioned right-hander Michael Petersen back to Triple-A and recalled left-hander Justin Wrobleski and right-hander Landon Knack, who started Friday’s series opener against the Cleveland Guardians.
Wrobleski will start Saturday night, with Flaherty scheduled to pitch Sunday’s series finale.
UP NEXT
Guardians (RHP Alex Cobb, 2-1, 2.76 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Justin Wrobleski, 1-2, 6.82 ERA), Saturday, 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM