The Los Angeles Dodgers rotation shuffle continued Thursday, with Kenta Maeda being put on the 10-day disabled list as a corresponding move to the club reinstating Hyun-Jin Ryu. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Maeda had been pitching through hamstring tightness “for a few weeks.”
As for Ryu, he returned on the first day he was eligible to come off the Dl. His official diagnosis was a left hip contusion; Roberts referred to it as a glute strain. Ryu’s first start since April 30 was filled with much of the same issues that’s plagued him thus far in 2017.
The Colorado Rockies mounted a pair of two-out rallies, taking a 7-0 lead through two innings. Ryu eventually allowed 10 runs (five earned) on eight hits in four innings of work. He issued six walks (one intentional), hit one batter, and had four strikeouts.
When Ryu next takes the mound has not yet been determined, but it’s expected to come later than a normal turn in the rotation, per Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA:
.@HyunJinRyu99 will get pushed back at least 1-2 days.
— Alanna Rizzo (@alannarizzo) May 12, 2017
Ryu suffered the loss and fell to 1-5 with a 4.99 ERA and 1.60 WHIP this season. The outing snapped a streak of two consecutive starts where he allowed just one earned run.
With the Dodgers expected to activate and start Brandon McCarthy and Rich Hill on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, that naturally would push back Ryu’s next scheduled start.
Though, the Dodgers could very well elect to put the southpaw on the disabled list once again. Assuming Hill and McCarthy do come off the DL as planned, the Dodgers at that point could field a rotation that consists of Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Julio Urias, McCarthy and Hill.
Maeda’s eventual return presumably would bump Wood back into the bullpen. No matter how it eventually shakes out, one option Roberts has eliminated is expanding to a six-man rotation.
