After finishing 4-2 on their second-to-last homestand of the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers open a 10-game road trip Friday night in Miami. The weekend series kicks off with Clayton Kershaw returning to the mound for the first time since June 26.
When Kershaw last pitched in a Major League game, the Dodgers were eight games back of the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West. Los Angeles enters their weekend series against the Marlins on five-game winning streak and five games ahead of the Giants in the division.
Along with losing Kershaw to the disabled list, the Dodgers saw their rotation come undone due to injury. As a result, the likes of Jose De Leon, Brock Stewart and Julio Urias have been called on.
The most recent of the trio to contribute is De Leon, as he made his Major League debut and earned a win Sunday against the San Diego Padres. Urias was struck by a ball on his left index and middle fingers during his Sept. 2 start.
X-rays came back negative, though he wasn’t included in the current rotation turn. That’s going to change the next time through, as De Leon, Urias and Kershaw are scheduled to face the New York Yankees next week, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
De Leon starts Monday, Urias starts Tuesday.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 9, 2016
Kershaw starts in NY Wednesday.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 9, 2016
De Leon’s immediate future was tied to how Scott Kazmir fared in a rehab start earlier this week with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Kazmir suffered a setback, was unable to make it out of the first inning, and returned to Los Angeles to be examined. An update on his status is not yet available.
De Leon collected nine strikeouts in his start, finishing one shy of matching a Los Angeles franchise record set by Pedro Astacio (1992) and Kazuhisa Ishii (2002) for most strikeouts during an MLB debut.
Kershaw’s start on Wednesday will come on regular rest, which is important to the routine-oriented ace. That also leaves Kershaw on track to face the San Francisco Giants (Sept. 19), Colorado Rockies (Sept. 24) and either the San Diego Padres (Sept. 29) or Giants for a second time (Sept. 30).
Urias is 5-2 with a 3.69 ERA in 15 games (13 starts) with the Dodgers this season. The club has him on an unspecified innings limit, and have often called on the young southpaw to start, despite their effort to place Urias in the bullpen.
