LOS ANGELES — As much as any area of the team, the bullpen carried the Dodgers to their World Series title last season.
It’s going to need some work before that can happen again.
Tanner Scott is the latest high-leverage reliever sidelined by injury. He left Monday night’s game after feeling “something in his forearm” and was placed on the injured list on Tuesday. Scott underwent an MRI on Tuesday which showed inflammation but no ligament damage.
“Better than expected,” Scott said of the outcome.
“Definitely when it was happening, I had no clue what was going on because I’ve never had an arm issue in my entire career. I felt it on my 1-1 pitch, and it kept getting worse and I’m like, ‘I have no clue what it is.’ After today, it kind of gave me a clear head.”
Scott said he will not throw for the next couple of days before testing how it feels after that.
“I wanna pitch,” he said, before adding that he is confident the bullpen’s struggles as a whole will not continue.
“Things are gonna turn around.”
Scott is tied for 10th in the majors with 19 saves this season but also has seven blown saves and a 4.14 ERA. He joins Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol as high-leverage relievers currently on the Dodgers’ IL. Treinen (forearm) is nearing the end of his rehab assignment. Kopech (knee) and Graterol (shoulder surgery) could return before the end of the regular season. Phillips is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Scott’s injury has the effect of “intensifying” the need to acquire some high-leverage relievers before next week’s trade deadline, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“It’s a blow. It’s a big blow,” Roberts said. “He’s not throwing the baseball as well as he’s going to be throwing the baseball. But just to have somebody that’s there, that takes the baseball, has been huge – to pitch in (high-)leverage, someone that’s been there.”
Without Scott, veteran reliever Kirby Yates is the Dodgers’ most experienced reliever. But the 38-year-old Yates has not had a great season either, particularly against left-handed hitters who have an .893 OPS against him.
“That fastball has been good, consistent,” Roberts said. “The split has been the problem. It’s just not moving the way we’d like it to.
“If you look at his success against left-handed hitters this year, the split is the cause. So I think that’s the neutralizer pitch for left-handed hitters. And that’s something that just hasn’t been consistent.”
That is problematic. Yates has annually thrown his splitter at least 35% of the time each season since he started throwing it frequently in 2018.
“Well, we’re seeing it in real time how it is, when you have one pitch essentially that you have a lot of confidence in when you’re a two-pitch pitcher,” Roberts said. “So I just talked to him earlier today and he worked on some flat-ground stuff with the pitching guys, and says that it’s moving the way he likes it to move. He’s a ‘feel’ guy. So his track record, his compete, preparation, all that stuff, I just know that it’s gonna turn and he’ll get that split where it needs to be again.”
Left-hander Alex Vesia could find himself getting the call in more save situations – while the Dodgers search for a trade-deadline acquisition.
“I still think it’s a really talented pitching staff,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We have guys coming back. Obviously we’ll know more about Tanner hopefully in the very near future and then we’ll go from there. As we stand right now, I feel really good about our staff in general and a really talented group of guys that are here now and then also still set to come back.”
DIAZ UP
With Scott going on the IL on Tuesday, former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
An All-Star as the Cincinnati Reds’ closer in 2023, Diaz lost his job and was demoted to Triple-A by the Reds before he was traded to the Dodgers in May. He spent time at the Dodgers’ training complex in Arizona, working with the pitching department to restore the velocity he had lost over the past two seasons and restore his mechanics to his 2023 version. That has been a success, Gomes said.
“He’s in a great head space and he’s really excited that he was able to work with our group,” Gomes said. “The foundational pieces that he’s worked on over the last month or so, getting the velocity back and his delivery in a better place, are really encouraging. We know what he’s capable of. He’s a really talented dude.”
The changes in his mechanics focused on “having a little better direction to the plate,” Gomes said.
“He did some good work with our PD (player development), pitching group in Arizona before going out to OKC and we’ve seen flashes of really good stuff out there. Especially his last outing was super encouraging,” Gomes said.
Diaz’s most recent outing was Saturday. He faced three hitters, struck out two and got a fly out. His fastball touched 95 mph.
“His last outing was right there,” Gomes said. “It was glove-side execution at an elite level with the slider coming off of it. If we get that version we’ll be really happy.”
Diaz entered Tuesday’s game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. He gave up a run on a ground out and another on a single before retiring the side.
SNELL PLAN
Left-hander Blake Snell will make his fourth and likely final rehab start for OKC on Saturday. Snell will be aiming for five innings or 75 pitches. He went four innings on 58 pitches for OKC on Sunday and has allowed two runs on eight hits while striking out 17 in nine innings on his first three rehab starts (one each in the Arizona Complex League and with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga and OKC).
“Once we get through that, there will be a real discussion on if he should join us or do another one,” Roberts said.
Snell made just two starts for the Dodgers before going on the IL with a shoulder injury after his start on April 2.
UP NEXT
Twins (RHP Chris Paddack, 3-9, 5.14 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow, 1-1, 3.10 ERA), Wednesday, 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market only), 570 AM
