The Los Angeles Dodgers placed Michael Grove on the 15-day injured list with a left knee contusion and recalled Andre Jackson from Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies.
Although the Dodgers are balancing the remainder of the regular season with preparing for the playoffs, that didn’t necessarily apply to Grove in his start on Saturday.
The right-hander had completed a career-high five innings in three consecutive starts, but manager Dave Roberts hoped to see Grove provide more length Saturday.
“Michael was under the weather his last start but found a way to give us five innings, which we really needed,” Roberts said before the game. “So I think today, I’d love to push him. It’s not a pitch-count thing, it’s going to be performance and how he’s managing innings. I’d love to see him go deeper.”
Grove appeared poised to do so as he was through three scoreless innings on just 37 pitches. However, he allowed four runs in the fourth and wound up again pitching five innings.
Grove’s night ended with being struck in the left knee by a comebacker that caromed right to Freddie Freeman for the final out of the fifth inning. Grove limped off the field and said after the game that the ball hit him on the inside of the knee but X-rays were negative.
The four earned runs he allowed set a career high, but Roberts generally was pleased with the outing.
“With Michael, he wasn’t as sharp as he has been the last couple. He wasn’t getting ahead of guys, didn’t have a feel for the curveball until later in the outing,” Roberts said.
“He used more sliders, but to (Randal) Grichuk it was a cement mixer. There were some good ones, there weren’t some good ones. For him to get through the fifth inning and save another arm was huge. Just can’t say enough about his fight and compete.”
Jackson is back up with the Dodgers for a fifth time this year. He’s converted one save, allowed just one unearned run and collected six strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched across three relief appearances.
What’s next for Michael Grove?
Dodgers probables for the remaining games in the season are Tyler Anderson, Tony Gonsolin, Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw. Andrew Heaney is scheduled to follow Urías in Tuesday’s game, which meant Grove presumably was not due to pitch again unless included on the Dodgers postseason roster.
Being put on the IL now officially rules Grove out from appearing again in the 2022 regular season.
Grove is 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA over seven games (six starts) for the Dodgers after beginning the season at Double-A Tulsa and joining Triple-A Oklahoma City before his MLB debut.
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