The injury woes that have plagued the Los Angeles Dodgers throughout Spring Training and into the regular season struck again on Tuesday. A mere three games removed from the All-Star break, Hyun-Jin Ryu has landed back on the disabled list and Clayton Kershaw had his recovery from a back injury stopped.
Ryu’s issue is left elbow tendinitis and unrelated to the torn labrum that was repaired, while Kershaw came out of his simulated game with lingering back pain. Drastic as that already is, the Dodgers suffered a scare during Tuesday’s game with the Washington Nationals.
Kazmir leaped into the air to field a comebacker and landed awkwardly on his right leg. It appeared to buckle, he threw low to first base and hobbled around the mound. A trainer came out to check on the southpaw, who remained in the game.
Kazmir didn’t throw a warmup pitch before continuing and three pitches later gave up a solo home run to Jose Lobaton before getting out of the inning. Although not appearing to be 100 percent, Kazmir got through the sixth.
Some concern was erased when he came off the mound to beat the speedy Ben Revere to first base on a grounder to the right side. Kazmir then completed a seventh inning of work. According to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register, Kazmir merely suffered from cramping and relied on unsavory liquids to recover:
“It felt like I was running on egg shells,” he said of getting through the inning. Back in the dugout, the Dodgers’ training staff gave him an electrolyte drink, pickle juice and spicy mustard to drink. “I think I drank pretty much everything under the sun,” Kazmir said. “I think I had a little bit of that (mustard) on my face in the next half-inning. “But that stuff must have worked. Usually with cramps like that, there’s no turning back.”
This isn’t the first time Kazmir has dealt with cramp issues this season as he was removed from a game against the Atlanta Braves in early June because of cramping in his quad. The issue didn’t linger and Kazmir made his next scheduled start.
His ability to remain healthy moving forward comes with added importance given the current state of the Dodgers’ rotation. The 32-year-old improved to 8-3 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.27 WHIP this season.
