The Los Angeles Dodgers have 11 relief pitchers on their active roster but manager Dave Roberts didn’t have the entire bullpen at his disposal in the series opener against the Atlanta Braves due to Blake Treinen being unavailable.
“Blake’s arm was just kind of barking after his last outing. So for us, with where we’re at and how valuable he is, we just felt give him three, four, five days off,” Roberts revealed after the Dodgers’ 7-4 win over the Braves.
“He played catch (Monday) and felt good, but we’re in no rush to get him back.”
Treinen not being available came to light when Phil Bickford entered in the eighth inning for a high-leverage appearance. While Bickford has become a trusted relief pitcher since joining the Dodgers last year, it was a situation often reserved for Treinen.
Particularly when also taking into account it was Bickford’s 2022 debut. He began the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City and had just been recalled on Sunday.
Treinen is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, five strikeouts and .100 opponents’ batting average in three innings pitched across three appearances. He last was on the mound Thursday, in the first of a four-game set against the Cincinnati Reds.
The 33-year-old threw 18 pitches that night and retired all three batters faced in the eighth inning to earn the win.
Treinen injury details
Roberts added he does not believe Treinen will require a stint on the injured list, which under MLB rules for the 2022 season, is still 10 days for pitchers prior to May 2. Once that date arrives and active rosters are reduced to 26 players, an IL stint for pitchers will again revert back to 15 days.
Treinen also did not require an MRI. “Just kind of the manual strength and things like that. He’s had it before, so just backing off a little bit, we feel comfortable with that,” Roberts said.
Nevertheless, he deemed it unlikely that Treinen will pitch in either of the next two games against the Braves.
Should that hold true, the Dodgers’ valuable relief pitcher will have received seven days of rest before potentially next appearing.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
