When the Los Angeles Dodgers placed Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm tightness on Aug. 29, they believed it would be a brief stint.
The expectation was he would only miss two starts and they decided not to have him undergo an MRI. By Thursday, Gonsolin’s arm wasn’t progressing the way they hoped, so they scheduled an MRI on Friday for the right-hander once they returned from a road trip.
After Gonsolin underwent the MRI, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he doesn’t have the specifics of the results, but he knows the club was happy with the outcome.
“I do know that it was as good as we could have hoped,” Roberts said. “And so he’s going to resume playing catch today.”
With Gonsolin cleared to resume throwing, that keeps him on track to only miss a brief period of time, and potentially even just the two starts they originally hoped for. “We feel more encouraged by that,” Roberts said.
“So there was nothing that showed up that would take us away from that optimism.”
The Dodgers backdated Gonsolin’s IL stint to Aug. 26, which makes Saturday, Sept. 10, the earliest he can return to the team.
Gonsolin leads the National League in wins (16), ERA (2.10), WHIP (0.86) and batting average against (.169), but he currently does not have enough innings pitched to appear on qualified leaderboards despite a career-high 128.1 innings.
Before Gonsolin’s injury, the Dodgers planned to begin utilizing a six-man rotation, but that is no longer a guarantee while he is out. Roberts said L.A. may insert an internal option until Gonsolin returns, but it’s still under discussion.
Clayton Kershaw feels ‘great’ after return to Dodgers rotation
Clayton Kershaw made his return to the Dodgers starting rotation following nearly a month on the 15-day IL due to lower back pain and he turned in a great outing against the New York Mets.
The southpaw had a rough first inning where he walked three batters and gave up a single, but he still limited the damage to just one run. Following the first inning, Kershaw pitched four perfect innings before his day came to an end.
Although the Dodgers ended up dropping the game against the Mets, Kershaw was happy to be back on the mound.
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