With Gavin Stone making his MLB debut against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, the ripple effect impacted Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation.
May was originally scheduled to start the series finale against the Phillies, but Stone being slotted in pushed him back to the first game of a weekend series with the San Diego Padres. That in turn bumped Kershaw to Saturday and lined up Syndergaard to take the ball in the series finale at Petco Park.
However, as the Dodgers charted their best course of action, it entailed providing Kershaw with just one extra day of rest rather than two.
“Just kind of looking at each individual starter and what’s best for him, there’s some things that we’ve dug into,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted.
By swapping Kershaw and May, the right-hander now is due to start on seven days’ rest after throwing a career-high 104 pitches in his last outing on April 28. That came six days after May threw 96 pitches, his second-highest total this season.
While the team was evaluating how to best align their rotation for the upcoming series in San Diego, their decisions also affect next weekend’s matchup against the Padres at Dodger Stadium.
“I think there’s something to that,” Roberts said of the Dodgers maneuvering to have Kershaw, May and Julio Urías make two starts each during the six games against the Padres.
“Giving Noah some extra time, we wanted to make sure to give him a reset. So started with that, and then keeping the other guys on (schedule) and giving Dustin an extra day. Julio feels good about staying on a five-day when he can, so it just made sense all around.”
However, in order to ensure Kershaw, May and Urías face the Padres next weekend as well, the Dodgers would need a probable other than Syndergaard and Tony Gonsolin for the Milwaukee Brewers series.
That conceivably can be filled by Stone making a second start, but Roberts did not reveal if the Dodgers are committed to keeping the prospect up as part of a six-man rotation.
Clayton Kershaw wins NL Pitcher of the Month
Kershaw went 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA, 3.07 FIP, 0.76 WHIP and 9.7 strikeouts per nine in 38 innings pitched across six starts to begin the season, and was named National League Pitcher of the Month.
Kershaw became the first Dodgers pitcher to receive the honor since Walker Buehler in July 2021. It’s the seventh time the left-hander has won Pitcher of the Month, and his first since May 2016.
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