The Los Angeles Dodgers went into Tuesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants with cautious optimism. Rich Hill was making his first start for the team in one month. He was coming off a second stint on the disabled list because of the chronic blister on his left middle finger.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts voiced confidence the team and the 37-year-old had taken the appropriate steps in preparation for a return. So it went, with Hill holding the Giants to just one run on six hits over five innings.
The outing matched his season long. Hill threw 82 pitches, his most in three starts in 2017. But more importantly, the southpaw came out of the start without the blister becoming an issue, via SportsNet LA:
“The ball came out of my hand well. Not 100 percent the way I wanted it to, obviously one mistake to Brandon (Belt) — just a curveball that kind of hung — but overall everything came out the way I wanted it to. And the finger was good so there’s no issues there. [The blister] held up fine. We were checking it in between innings, making sure there wasn’t anything that was going on, so that was good.”
Hill’s night began on somewhat of a rough note as he hit Giants leadoff hitter Denard Span in the helmet with a curveball. Hill was then called for a balk.
He proceeded to retire the next three batters faced to get through the inning unscathed. Hill then found a good feel for his curveball in the second inning, collecting a pair of strikeouts.
Roberts, nor Hill, specified when a next turn in the rotation will come. The Dodgers have not publicly revealed their plans beyond Saturday, with Hyun-Jin Ryu starting on Thursday, Alex Wood taking the ball Friday, followed by Julio Urias on Saturday.
