The Los Angeles Dodgers provided Tony Gonsolin with wiggle room in his second start of the regular season, which came in a 13-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Gonsolin missing the first few weeks was felt in a Dodgers rotation that saw its fair share of bumpy outings, but after taking Michael Grove’s slot, the right-hander has made solid steps in his buildup to a full workload.
After tossing 3.1 shutout innings on 65 pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Gonsolin made similar progress in his second start off the 15-day injured list.
Through three innings he had surrendered just two singles and didn’t allow a runner past second base until Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run on a first-pitch 89.7 mph four-seam fastball. Gonsolin’s velocity on the heater is down a few ticks from his 2022 average of 93.1 mph, but he and the Dodgers aren’t concerned.
“Yeah, definitely,” answered Gonsolin when asked if he was confident in adding more velocity in future starts. “I feel like right now it’s coming out OK. Numbers are solid on it, so just a matter of time.”
Gonsolin entered the fifth inning without many stressful pitches, but some traffic on the bases and hitting the 80-pitch mark forced manager Dave Roberts to hand it over to the Dodgers bullpen in a tough spot.
“Coming out with the bases loaded is never what you want to do,” Gonsolin said.
Inducing 23 combined chases and whiffs is another sign he’s on the right path in the ramp-up toward a higher pitch count, but Gonsolin signaled that aside from his final frame, Monday was a good step.
“Yeah, definitely. I think they let me stay out there for more pitches than they probably wanted to, but overall it was a good thing,” he noted. “I proved that I can do it, and we’ll see how I respond tomorrow.”
Through two starts he holds a 3.38 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and has tallied four strikeouts. Gonsolin finding the 2022 form that earned him his first career All-Star Game selection would be pivotal in the Dodgers rotation.
Tony Gonsolin working towards pitching in the strike zone
One area of improvement Gonsolin wanted to address following his first start against the Pirates was strike percentage. That improved against the Phillies, as Gonsolin went from throwing 60% strikes in his debut to 65%.
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