ATLANTA — The gathering on the Truist Park mound kept growing. At first, Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki was visited by pitching coach Mark Prior and catcher Hunter Feduccia, with the help of interpreter Will Ireton. Then, Prior summoned head athletic trainer Thomas Albert. Then, they called out manager Dave Roberts, who eventually made the pitching change.
The group had been examining the middle finger on Sasaki’s right hand. Sasaki exited the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss to the Braves in the fourth inning with a blister on that finger, which will land him on the 15-day injured list, Roberts said after the game.
“There’s just no way we can avoid it given the severity of the blister,” Roberts said. “So we’ll give him some time. But we can cover it up actually to keep his arm moving.”
Still, it’s unclear how long it will sideline him. In the meantime, Roberts said, left-hander Eric Lauer will return to the rotation, and the Dodgers will add a reliever as the corresponding move.
“It’s more disappointing with Roki because he has been so consistently good,” Roberts said. “And I don’t think he’s dealt with any blister issues. So for it to kind of come out of nowhere was a surprise to all of us. He was on a good run. So now unfortunately, it’s going to be minimum two weeks.”
The blister seems to explain why Sasaki, who was charged with four runs and six hits in 3 ⅓ innings, didn’t look as sharp Wednesday against the Braves as he had been in the rest of his impressive second-half stretch. Sasaki entered the day with a 2.19 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break.
His efficiency Wednesday wavered, and he exited after 66 pitches. After Sasaki gave up a solo home run to Matt Olson in the first inning, the outing began to devolve in the fourth.
Sasaki walked Ozzie Albies to open the inning. During that plate appearance, Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo, without warning, his “skin just ripped off.”
He hadn’t had a blister building before then, he said. And as he continued to pitch, it got worse and affected his slider.
Sasaki surrendered a single to Mike Yastrzemski, a sacrifice fly to Austin Riley and a double to Sean Murphy. Then Prior came out to check on him.
Right-handed reliever Edgardo Henriquez replaced Sasaki, inheriting two baserunners. Both scored when Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández overran Drake Baldwin’s deep fly ball down the line, for a go-ahead double.
The Dodgers (80-53) never led again. Though they tied the score in the seventh, they squandered a bases-loaded opportunity the next inning. And in the ninth, closer Tanner Scott, the fifth Dodgers reliever to take the mound, surrendered a walk-off single to pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Kim.
“The base hit by Kim ended the game, but it’s not what cost us the game,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of plays that lead up to circumstances, whether it be defensively, offensively, that sort of come to pass when you don’t execute. So, there’s just a lot of things that we’ve got to keep getting better at.”
Their playoff seeding depends on it.
The Dodgers still sit in second place in the National League, with a first-round bye. But after two straight losses to the No. 3 Braves, the gap between the two teams shrunk to two games. The Dodgers also trail the No. 1 Brewers by two games.
About a month away from the playoffs, Sasaki sits in an interesting position.
As long as he isn’t sidelined for an extended period, Sasaki will likely return to the Dodgers’ rotation when he’s activated from the IL. But if he’s out for long enough to require a build-up, it could make sense to move him straight into the bullpen instead.
After all, he’ll likely be in a bullpen role for the playoffs.
While the Dodgers have carried a six-man rotation for much of the regular season, it’s down to five since the Dodgers put left-hander Justin Wrobleski on the IL a week and a half ago and later moved Lauer to the bullpen in a multi-inning role. But in the playoffs, they only need four starters.
The next four days will provide a preview, with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Thursday in the series finale against the Braves), left-hander Tarik Skubal (making his Detroit return Friday), lefty Blake Snell (Saturday), and likely some combination of two-way star Shohei Ohtani and/or Tyler Glasnow (Sunday) all lined up.
Ozzie Albies steals second base as Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts leaps for the ball in the fourth inning Wednesday.
(Erik S. Lesser / Associated Press)
That fourth and final playoff rotation spot will be the one to follow as the season winds down.
Ohtani is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Friday in Detroit, Roberts said, after which the Dodgers will finalize his schedule for the rest of the weekend.
“Right now, I don’t think anyone knows how any day looks until he throws that bullpen on Friday,” Roberts said before the game Wednesday.
Ohtani returning to pitching Sunday is still in play, Roberts confirmed. And Glasnow is also lined up for Sunday.
When Ohtani returns to the mound, it will be in a super-opener role, as he continues to build up. And if he and Glasnow piggyback on Sunday, it’ll be a preview of a possible postseason setup.
If Ohtani is able to build up to a full starter’s load — pitching Sunday rather than Tuesday would give him the chance to make up to five starts before the end of the regular season — the Dodgers could have a more difficult decision at the back end of their rotation.
