The Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation depth has been put to the test early this season, with four of their five Opening Day starters currently on the disabled list.
Kenta Maeda, who is dealing with a hip injury, is expected to be the first to return in the coming weeks, followed by Rich Hill, who is out due to blisters once again. Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu are not going to be back for at least another month.
Thus, their replacements will have to keep stepping up in their absence. One of those is rookie Dennis Santana, who made his MLB debut on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.
That outing came in a relief role, with Scott Alexander getting the start to test out the ‘opener’ strategy that the Tampa Bay Rays have pioneered with Sergio Romo.
It appears that strategy is not something the Dodgers are going to stick with, though, as Santana is set to make his first career start on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Dennis Santana will start Thursday for #Dodgers. Wednesday still TBD
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 3, 2018
Santana battled through nerves in his first career outing and called it a ‘great experience.’ He gave up six hits and five earned runs in 3.2 innings while striking out four and walking one.
The Dodgers had an offensive explosion, which included a two-run double by Santana, so the 22-year-old earned a win in his first career outing.
Ross Stripling will get the start in the series opener against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Brock Stewart was a candidate to start Wednesday, however Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has ruled out the possibility.
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