The Los Angeles Dodgers began their homestand with a series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Tony Gonsolin struggled in the finale of the weekend set to continue an ongoing run of poor outings from the starting rotation.
Gonsolin pitched five innings, giving up five runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking three. Most of the damage came in his final inning when he allowed three runs on a homer to Whit Merrifield.
“That’s a pretty good lineup top to bottom,” Gonsolin said. “I felt early on I really wasn’t executing pitches very well. I fell behind in a lot of counts, had to battle back into counts and gave them too good of pitches to hit.
“Later in the game, I thought I found my stuff a little bit better. I thought I started executing a little bit more and then I just made one mistake and it cost us.”
The season has been a struggle overall for the 29-year-old, who now owns a 4.25 ERA in 82.2 innings with only 68 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP after having an All-Star campaign in 2022.
“The results have sucked and been what they are,” Gonsolin said. “I’m just trying to stay with the process and keep moving forward.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believed the right-hander took a step forward in his last outing against the Texas Rangers, despite the less-than-stellar results in a subsequent start against the Blue Jays, and Gonsolin still believes that’s the case.
“Yeah, I think I’ve definitely turned a corner,” he said. “I think early in the game it was a little worse, but then kind of found that rhythm later.”
The good news for Gonsolin is he was still able to get many hitters into a two-strike count. However, he wasn’t able to put them away, which led to his poor results.
“I think the execution of my two-strike pitches just really wasn’t there,” Gonsolin said. “The home run was (a pitch) right down the middle. I think when I did execute two-strike pitches, we got good results out of it. But overall, just need to make more quality pitches.”
Roberts also agreed with that assessment but added Gonsolin hasn’t been able to get strike one consistently enough. To be better moving forward, the skipper believes Gonsolin’s issues may be related to the mental side of his game or that he isn’t fully past his fatigue issues from earlier in the season.
“I think his mindset, as I’ve learned him and been around him more, has gotten better and better,” Roberts said. “The expectation for himself and his performances has been elevated considerably. As far as right now with where he’s at, there’s just that next gear that we need to tap into.
“I don’t know if it’s a mindset thing, I don’t know if it’s a fatigue thing. Obviously, it’s an execution thing. That’s something we’re certainly mindful of. I think he’s closer than the last three or four outings have been.”
Tony Gonsolin not focused on negative results
Although the poor outings have been frustrating for Gonsolin, his focus is just on moving ahead and trying to right the ship without focusing only on the negatives.
“I try not to worry about the results too much,” he said while reiterating his focus on his work to improve. “I just try to stay with the process and keep it moving.”
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