The Los Angeles Dodgers spent the better part of the week uncertain who would start the final two of their three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That changed Friday when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced the club was sticking with Brandon McCarthy for his scheduled start.
Roberts also announced Brett Anderson is taking the mound in the series finale for his 2016 debut. As for McCarthy, he threw a pair of bullpen sessions in effort to fix mechanical issues that plagued him in recent starts.
McCarthy didn’t offer specifics, but alluded to the primary trouble coming with his release. “It felt very normal this week. What I feel like (the issue) is it’s something minor,” he said on Friday.
“It’s just putting that back into play and getting comfortable with it. It wasn’t anything huge, but we’ll see what that leads to.”
McCarthy went 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA and amassed 26 strikeouts in 22.1 innings pitched over his first four starts after returning from Tommy John surgery.
He seemingly bottomed out against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, matching a career high with five walks and throwing several pitches to the backstop. It was a third consecutive start in which the right-hander didn’t complete more than four innings.
“A couple things get off base, you feel screwy, and then it turns into you don’t believe you can execute something because your body is not in position to allow you to execute it,” McCarthy said.
“It feels like something has been found now. I’ve done all the work. It’s now just a matter of going out in games and making sure everything is where you need it to be. We don’t really have any other alternative.”
