Noah Syndergaard has been dealing with a blister/cut on his right index finger over the last week, but managed to avoid going on the 15-day injured list and made his scheduled start in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ series opener against the Minnesota Twins.
Syndergaard wound up completing just four innings on 59 pitches, allowing two runs on four hits and collecting five strikeouts without issuing a walk. “He came out of it well,” manager Dave Roberts said of Syndergaard’s outing.
“I think he did his catch play, and for all intents and purposes, I think he fared really well considering what we went through six, seven days ago.”
Syndergaard lasted just one inning in his start against the Milwaukee Brewers, so his latest appearance was certainly a step in the right direction. Even more encouraging was the right-hander’s fastball velocity ticking up to 94 mph in the first inning against the Twins.
While Syndergaard lost some zip as the night progressed, it was an encouraging start by all accounts. The 30-year-old is now expected to take his next turn in the rotation on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Syndergaard again used Dermabond to keep his blister/cut sealed, but Roberts referenced the Dodgers’ prior history with Rich Hill as reason to still have some concern.
“It got him through the start, but we’ve seen these things over the years, and once we think we’re safe, then we’re not,” Roberts said.
Noah Syndergaard was on pitch count against Twins
Roberts explained his reasoning for removing Syndergaard after four innings against the Cardinals was partly due to a recent stretch of limited usage and the Twins’ results.
“He only threw 20 pitches in two weeks, so I felt getting to 60 pitches, I thought the stuff started to curtail and wasn’t as sharp,” Roberts said.
“There was a lot of hard outs late, so assuming we’re going to play nine innings, I felt really good where we were at. It just didn’t work out that way. No. 1, I thought he was very good. I thought early, very sharp, teethy, gave us what we needed.”
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