Ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Marlins, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they placed Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day injured list with left forearm inflammation and recalled Mitch White.
The injury for Kershaw comes as a surprise considering he has not missed a single start this season, taking the mound 18 times and going 9-7 with a 3.39 ERA, 2.99 FIP and 0.98 WHIP with 127 strikeouts and 19 walks in 106.1 innings.
He last pitched on Saturday against the Washington Nationals, allowing three hits and three runs in four innings, striking out three and walking one. The reason for the shortened start was not because of injury, rather because of a long rain delay.
It remains to be seen how serious the injury is and how long Kershaw will be out, but he will at least miss his scheduled start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. With the IL stint being backdated, he will be eligible to return during the All-Star break.
Forearm issues could be related to the elbow though, so the Dodgers could potentially be looking at a serious injury here for their star lefty.
White has been back and forth between the Dodgers and Triple-A Oklahoma City all season. In 14 games for the Dodgers, he has posted a 3.77 ERA, 3.80 FIP and 1.61 WHIP with 14 strikeouts and eight walks in 14.1 innings.
The 26-year-old has been even better in OKC, making five appearances and yielding a 2.25 ERA and 1.38 WHIP with 11 strikeouts and five walks in eight innings.
Considering the Dodgers are without two starters and the bullpen is a bit taxed after an extra-inning game on Tuesday, the expectation is that White will pitch perhaps multiple innings for L.A. on Wednesday night against the Marlins.
It’s possible that the Dodgers could call up a starter to take Kershaw’s spot on Friday, or they could go with another bullpen game, which isn’t ideal but definitely plausible with the All-Star break coming up.
Roberts not expecting Bauer to be activated off leave on Friday
The other Dodgers starter that has been out is Trevor Bauer due to sexual assault allegations that are currently being investigated. The league placed Bauer on seven-day administrative leave as they continue to investigate the matter.
Bauer is eligible to come off on Friday, although Dave Roberts is not expecting that to be the case as MLB can extend his stay on leave if agreed to by the Players Association, which is expected to happen.
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