The Los Angeles Dodgers went three months this season without Brandon McCarthy as he recovered from the April 2015 Tommy John surgery. Through his first three starts of 2016, the right-hander has been handled with extreme care.
McCarthy’s return to the mound was a rousing success as he tossed five shutout innings with eight strikeouts against the Colorado Rockies. Although he’d only thrown 72 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided it was enough for McCarthy in his first start back.
The decision was certainly understandable. So too was lifting McCarthy after five innings and 77 pitches in his second outing.
The 33-year-old had allowed three runs on three hits, including a home run, and didn’t have the same sharpness from his debut. McCarthy said after the outing he lacked a feel for the baseball.
That didn’t appear to be the case Saturday night in his first career start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who McCarthy spent all of 2013 and part of 2014 with. As the Dodgers offense sputtered, providing one run of support, McCarthy shut out his former team.
He completed six innings for the first time this season, but again was removed at 77 pitches. After the Dodgers’ extra-innings loss, McCarthy said he’s hoping to pitch deeper into games, per ESPN’s Doug Padilla:
“I want to get more innings,” he said. “Pitch count is going to slowly evolve getting through the lineup a few more times. That’s something that will come as you continue building strength, so I wanted to make sure that I want to maximize innings, maximize efficiency. Getting through six is encouraging, but you’d like to start moving into seven and eight when you’re pitching well. That’s going to come in a little bit of time.”
Largely picking up where he left off in 2015, McCarthy is collecting strikeouts at a prolific rate. He has at least six punchouts in each of his three starts, and has twice reached eight strikeouts.
Getting length out of their starters has been an issue for the Dodgers, particularly in the wake of Clayton Kershaw landing on the disabled list. However, their fortunes may soon change in some regard as McCarthy continues to prove he’s capable of surpassing 80 pitches, and Kershaw makes his return within the next week or so.
