The Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged their series with the Cincinnati Reds and snapped a three-game losing streak with their 8-0 win on Wednesday but may have incurred yet another injury, this time to Garrett Cleavinger after he was struck by a line-drive comebacker.
Cleavinger almost didn’t find himself in the game as it wasn’t until the Dodgers blew it open with a six-run eighth inning that a reliever other than Kenley Jansen was asked to record the game’s final three outs.
Cleavinger nearly accomplished as much as he had the Reds down to their final strike when Tyler Stephenson hit a line drive that went off the left-hander’s tricep in his throwing arm. Cleavinger recovered to make the play, but the call was overturned.
He threw a couple warmup tosses before walking off the field with a Dodgers trainer. “Happy to get Cleavinger in there. We’ll still kind of seeing how he feels (Thursday),” manager Dave Roberts said after the win.
“It was on the tricep, so I think that’s a good thing relative to potentially being the elbow. We’ll know more [Thursday]. … There was a lot of adrenaline, so he wanted to keep going obviously. We’ll see how it settles. I’m sure there’s going to be some soreness and we can evaluate then.”
Cleavinger remained in the dugout as Dennis Santana entered to finish the game and appeared to be in positive spirits when discussing the incident with Justin Turner.
Cleavinger is among those who have recently been rotated on and off the active roster as the Dodgers have dealt with injuries and players dealing with side effects from getting vaccinated.
Days after Corey Knebel suffered a right lat strain that will sideline him for multiple months, L.A. then lost David Price to a right hamstring strain.
Dodgers bullpen game on horizon
Only halfway through a stretch of playing 14 consecutive games without an off day, the Dodgers are likely to use a spot starter in a bullpen game on Friday. “That’s kind of the thought right now,” Roberts said.
“I don’t know who’s going to start, but I think it’s fair to see right now it would be a bullpen game.”
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