The Los Angeles Dodgers faced a void in their starting rotation upon placing Rich Hill on the 10-day injured list last week with a strained flexor tendon in his left forearm. Not only did L.A. need a starter for Tuesday but the foreseeable future as well.
The obvious candidates to replace him were Ross Stripling and Julio Urias as they have started plenty of games in the past and are familiar in that role. The Dodgers have placed an innings limit on Urias in his first full season coming off shoulder surgery though, so it makes more sense to leave him in the bullpen for the time being.
Currently in the middle of a stretch in which they play 18 straight days, it appears the Dodgers have not one, but two spot starters on the horizon.
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would not reveal their plan beyond this week, he did announce that Stripling will start Tuesday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, with Tony Gonsolin to receive a call-up to then start Wednesday, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Dave Roberts confirms Ross Stripling starts tomorrow. Tony Gonsolin will start Wednesday, callup from OKC.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 25, 2019
Stripling has appeared in 20 games for the Dodgers this season, starting six of them. He carries a 3-0 record to go along with a 3.08 ERA, 3.65 FIP and 1.17 WHIP with 48 strikeouts and 16 walks in 49.2 innings. He has faced Arizona 20 times in his career (five starts), pitching to a 3.78 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 47.2 innings.
Gonsolin will make his MLB debut when he takes the mound on Wednesday. He has been limited to eight starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, going 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.27 WHIP with 31 strikeouts and 13 walks in 26 innings.
Stripling hasn’t thrown more than two innings in a game since April 25 and Gonsolin has not gone more than five innings in any of his eight starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City., so the Dodgers likely won’t get much length out of either pitcher, which puts some pressure on their bullpen.
The Dodgers follow up this week’s series against the Diamondbacks with a four-game set against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field this weekend so there is a good chance they make more roster moves to bring in bullpen reinforcements depending on how Stripling and Gonsolin do in their respective starts.
