River Ryan became the latest Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher to suffer an injury as he left his start early on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates with right forearm tightness.
Ryan first experienced the tightness in the third inning, but attempted to use a Theragun his arm in hopes to continue pitching. When he went back out for the fifth inning, the tightness popped back up.
By that point, he was unable to hide his discomfort, and on his final pitch, he threw a 91 mph slider and grimaced in pain. That prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and head athletic trainer Thomas Albert to check on Ryan, who attempted to lobby his way into remaining in the game before being removed.
When he first started feeling the tightness, Ryan did not alert any of the Dodgers coaches or trainers.
“I definitely didn’t want to come out of the game, I wanted to finish,” Ryan said. “But they saw me grimace a little bit on the mound, and they’re not going to take any chances, so they decided to end it there.”
The Dodgers did not have much information after the game as they await further testing. Ryan is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday.
Although forearm injuries are often a precursor to more serious things, including the potential for Tommy John surgery, Ryan is optimistic about his outlook.
“Not very,” Ryan answered about his level of concern. “I mean, I feel pretty solid right now. They ran me through some tests, strong. Going to the doctor tomorrow morning, see what happens.”
Now that Ryan has become the latest victim of an arm injury, he noted the pitch clock may be behind the rise of pitchers suffering injuries across MLB.
“Yeah, it’s just part of the game, man. It happens,” Ryan said. “I mean, the pitch clock definitely makes you speed up a lot, which, back in the day, you didn’t have to speed up as much when you threw. So throwing back to back pitches within 15 seconds, it starts to take a toll.”
Ryan finished his start with 4.2 innings pitched, allowing no runs on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
“I just feel bad for River because he was pitching such a good ball game,” Roberts said. “I was just excited and I was kind of feeling his energy.”
He made his MLB debut on July 22 and he’s remained in the rotation since then. Saturday night was Ryan’s fourth start of his career as he entered 1-0 with a 1.33 ERA and 1.18 WHIP.
Landon Knack replacing River Ryan
Roberts said Landon Knack will replace Ryan on the team after he is placed on the injured list on Sunday. Knack is going to pitch in a bullpen role for the time being.
It’s likely Walker Buehler, who is scheduled to start Wednesday, will replace Ryan in the rotation.
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