Los Angeles Dodgers starter Rich Hill has dealt with a variety of finger injuries in his three years with the team, suffering from blisters in 2016 and 2017 and this season a cracked nail that wound up getting infected.
Hill has been out for the better part of three weeks, but was on track to return as he was scheduled to start Sunday’s Mexico Series finale against the San Diego Padres.
It appears that is no longer the case though, as the Dodgers have decided to scratch Hill from that start to give him some extra time, going with reliever Ross Stripling instead, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Ross Stripling will start Sunday’s series finale against the Padres instead of Rich Hill, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced after Saturday night’s 7-4 loss.
It’s not believed Hill suffered any setbacks. But with the humidity in Mexico and an off-day on Monday, the Dodgers just decided to give him some extra time to heal.
This will be Stripling’s second straight start in place of Hill, with the first coming at Chase Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He tossed four innings in that outing, so somewhere around the same will be expected of him Sunday against the Padres in what will essentially be a bullpen game.
Overall this season, Stripling is 0-1 with a 2.33 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.39 WHIP and is averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
