Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Mike Bolsinger returned to the rotation Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim after missing the start of the season with a strained oblique he suffered during Spring Training.
Prior to being reinstated from the disabled list, Bolsinger made two rehab starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Heading into his 2016 debut, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expected Bolsinger would throw around 80 pitches.
Bolsinger wound throwing 69 pitches in 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. The damage could have been much worse, though he was able to escape jams in the second and fourth innings.
That was despite being limited to just a slider, which Bolsinger said was the only pitch he largely threw over his final two innings of work, according to Jack Baer of MLB.com:
“I think the only thing that was working for me was my slider,” Bolsinger said after allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings. “After the second inning, I think I threw four fastballs the rest of the game. Every pitch was a slider. I was working off one pitch.”
Although the outing may not have been ideal for Bolsinger, Roberts was pleased with his performance in his first start of the season:
“I thought Mike had did what we had hoped,” Roberts said. “There were 60 pitches that he threw in that last rehab start … and where he was at with the third time through, I thought he gave us a chance to win.”
Things went south for the Dodgers after Bolsinger was removed in the fifth in favor Louis Coleman, who promptly allowed five runs, although only two of them were earned.
Coleman did catch some tough luck as the Angels’ five-run fifth came on an infield single, an error by Howie Kendrick at first base, two-run bloop double to left, and a sacrifice fly. The Angels tacked on two more in the sixth and went on to win by a score of 8-1.
Bolsinger’s time with the Dodgers was short-lived as he was optioned to Oklahoma City on Thursday afternoon, in a corresponding move to Chin-hui Tsao getting called up.
