The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen has been overworked in recent days because their starting pitchers have failed to pitch deep into games for various reasons, including injuries and poor performances.
Between short outings from Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Julio Urías, along with an extra-innings game, the Dodgers bullpen had to cover 26 innings over their previous four games entering Friday.
With that in mind, the team needed length from Tony Gonsolin against the St. Louis Cardinals. Gonsolin was aware of the situation going into the game, but didn’t want to focus on it too much, he said on SportsNet LA:
“I wasn’t trying to think about it too much. ‘Dre came up huge yesterday, eating a lot of innings. And had (Tyler) Cyr today to kind of do the same thing, but fortunately enough I was able to get through five (innings). Not super happy with it, but we’ll take it.”
Although Gonsolin was effective and didn’t allow a run, he was only able to pitch five innings. Gonsolin threw 94 pitches with just 56 of them for strikes, which left him a bit frustrated with the outing:
“Just some of the length stuff. I felt like the first two, three innings felt really long; I threw a lot of pitches. And I thought the fourth and fifth were a little bit better, but overall just threw too many pitches.”
Gonsolin has only made five starts this season after beginning the year on the 15-day injured list with an ankle injury, and he made just one rehab start before Michael Grove’s groin strain forced the team to bring him back sooner.
While he may still be building up and finding a rhythm, Gonsolin does not want to use that as a potential excuse and instead focused on the need to eliminate bad pitches:
“I feel like I’ve been doing OK. Just trying to throw strikes today, I felt like I was close and threw some balls that were close. And I threw some balls that were non-competitive. I’m just trying to eliminate the non-competitive ones.”
Overall this season, the 2022 All-Star has thrown 24 innings with a 1.13 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 19 strikeouts. Gonsolin has additionally not allowed an earned run since May 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Dodgers called up Tyler Cyr with need for fresh bullpen arms
The Dodgers selected the contract of Tyler Cyr and optioned Andre Jackson to Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to Friday’s game against the Cardinals.
It marked the third consecutive day a relief pitcher who helped take a burden off the Dodgers bullpen was removed from the roster the following day. The streak began with Justin Bruhil, who has since been recalled because of May’s injury, and also included Dylan Covey getting designated for assignment.
Jackson threw 61 pitches over 3.1 innings in the series opener at Busch Stadium.
Make sure to follow Dodger Blue on Instagram! It’s the best way to see exclusive coverage from games and events, get your questions answered, and more!
