Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Tony Gonsolin will start against the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the National League Division Series when it shifts to Petco Park on Friday. The series is currently tied 1-1 as the rivals head down south for two more games.
Gonsolin missed five weeks while recovering from a right forearm strain and returned to make one final start for the Dodgers before the season ended. He completed two innings while throwing 40 pitches and gave up one run on three hits while adding three strikeouts.
He continued to build up his arm strength over the past week in a simulated game. It was last estimated that Gonsolin would be built up to pitch roughly four to five innings in his first NLDS start.
“Feel good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about the decision to start Gonsolin. “We extended him in the live sim games that we had this past week, so we feel good about the length and how he’s throwing the baseball.”
Roberts named Gonsolin as the starter following the Dodgers’ 5-3 loss in Game 2, but the decision wasn’t based on the outcome. “I don’t know if it was driven by that,” the skipper said.
“Just kind of thinking about it, we were talking a little bit about it, we just felt that, regardless of the outcome, we felt good about Tony.”
In 24 starts this season, Gonsolin pitched 130.1 innings and posted a 2.14 ERA, 3.28 FIP, and 0.87 WHIP with 119 strikeouts to 35 walks.
It was presumed Tyler Anderson would start Game 3 after he spoke to the media on Wednesday, but he remains open to any role needed during the playoffs. “It’s that whenever you want me to pitch, I’m available,” Anderson said.
“If you want me to pitch [Wednesday], I’m available. If you want me to pitch Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and you want me to pitch in live BP so guys can face left-handed pitching, I’ll pitch then too. I don’t know what the plan is going to be, but I’m available whenever they need me to pitch.”
On Wednesday, Roberts said Anderson would start either Game 3 or Game 4, so with Gonsolin going on Friday, Anderson will pitch on Saturday. Julio Urías is lined up to start a potential Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
Tony Gonsolin was nervous in return to Dodgers rotation
Although his final start of the season was treated somewhat like a rehab start for Gonsolin, and the game was ultimately meaningless with the Dodgers not having anything at stake, that didn’t stop the 2022 All-Star from feeling a bit emotional about his return to the mound.
“I noticed when I was warming up in the pregame bullpen during the stretch and all that stuff, I was pretty nervous out there,” Gonsolin said.
“I hadn’t felt that in a while. Yeah, I tried to go out there and execute pitches, and I did a little bit of that. But for the most part, I got a couple of things to work on this next bullpen and the final kind of outing before the playoffs start.”
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