Injuries have depleted the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff this season and forced the club to call on options they didn’t envision needing quite yet. Further compacting matters, Clayton Kershaw was the most recent starter to land on the disabled list.
He joined the likes of Brett Anderson, Brandon Beachy, Mike Bolsinger, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood as starting pitchers who either were on the DL at some point this season, or currently are.
Bolsinger, who performed admirably last season when he earned a spot in the rotation because of injuries to McCarthy and Ryu by going 3-1 with a 1.05 ERA in four starts during the month of May, once again earned a spot in the Dodgers rotation after recovering from his oblique injury this year.
However, the 28-year-old largely struggled and went 1-4 with a 6.83 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in six starts. In his last outing on June 18 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Bolsinger managed to pitch just 2.2 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.
He has since been sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City, and according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com he is now being used as a reliever:
Frias still the option for a spot start. Bolsinger is now a reliever.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 29, 2016
The main reason Bolsinger struggled as a starter his inability to get through a lineup the third time around. In his six starts, he failed to complete six frames, with his season high being 5.2 innings.
In 27 career Major League games, opponents hit .336/.416/.600 when facing Bolsinger a third time through. They batted .444/.615/.778 in such instances this season. Bolsinger owns a 1.50 ERA in six innings over four relief appearances since being optioned to Oklahoma City.
However, opponents did hit .318/.346/.364 during that span. Overall with OKC this season, Bolsinger is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in six games (two starts).
