With Major League Baseball placing Trevor Bauer on seven-day administrative leave, the Los Angeles Dodgers opted for a bullpen game in their Fourth of July matchup against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.
It resulted in Garrett Cleavinger making his first career start, and though he didn’t provide much length, he nonetheless got the job done. Cleavinger worked around a two-out double and walk to complete a scoreless first inning.
The Dodgers wound up using eight pitchers in their 5-1 victory over the Nationals. That wasn’t necessary in Monday’s series opener against the Miami Marlins as Walker Buehler took his scheduled turn in the rotation.
Tony Gonsolin will do the same on Tuesday but Wednesday is expected to bring more changes. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed the club will rely on another bullpen game rather than Julio Urias making his scheduled start, via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
Roberts said the club will go with another bullpen game Wednesday against the Marlins, pushing back Julio Urías’ start to Thursday and Clayton Kershaw’ next outing to Friday.
Urias being pushed back to Thursday means he will make his final start before the All-Star break on an extra day of rest. The left-hander last pitched on July 2 against the Nationals and allowed three runs in six innings en route to his Major League-leading 10th victory of the season.
Clayton Kershaw additionally has been bumped to Friday and now will start in the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner is in the midst of another strong season but wasn’t among the three Dodgers selected to the National League roster for the Midsummer Classic.
Assuming the club doesn’t make any changes, Buehler and Gonsolin could start in the final two games against the Diamondbacks.
Roberts expects Bauer to remain on leave past Friday
As for Bauer potentially returning from administrative leave before the All-Star break, Roberts recently downplayed the possibility.
It has not been uncommon in the past for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to extend player leaves beyond the original seven days, though doing so requires cooperation and approval from the Players Association.
