The Los Angeles Dodgers made their second roster move of the season on Monday when they recalled Justin Bruihl from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned Andre Jackson.
The swap gave the Dodgers three left-handed relievers in their bullpen as Bruhil joined Alex Vesia and Caleb Ferguson. Jackson was coming off a rough appearance in which he allowed four home runs, but the decision was made with the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs lineups in mind.
“With this lineup, there’s some lefties that we want to make sure we’re equipped to handle and in the next series against the Cubs, the same thing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Justin has been throwing the baseball well down there in OKC.
“It wasn’t about performance. It really wasn’t for Andre. I really wanted to get him in one more outing, but he’ll be back at some point.”
Bruihl threw six scoreless innings in five appearances while allowing just three baserunners for OKC before he was recalled.
“Everything is better across the board,” Roberts said. “The cutter, more late, livelier action. Velocity is up. He’s just commanding the baseball sort of the way he was when we first got him.”
The 25-year-old made his MLB debut in 2021, and is 1-1 with a 3.40 ERA in 45 games (two starts) for the Dodgers over parts of the past two seasons. He made his 2023 debut on Monday night while pitching one scoreless inning.
Possible batters for Justin Bruihl
Among the left-handed hitters on the Mets roster are Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Brett Baty, Luis Guillorme and Daniel Vogelbach. They also have switch-hitters Francisco Lindor and Eduardo Escobar.
The Cubs have Cody Bellinger, Tucker Barnhart, Eric Hosmer and Edwin Rios from the left side, with Ian Happ as their lone switch-hitter.
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