In the first three of a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitchers combined to go just 11.2 innings, requiring the bullpen to shoulder a heavy workload.
To their credit, several Dodgers relievers responded and helped fill the void. In need of a fresh arm for the series finale, Los Angeles recalled Carlos Frias from Triple-A Oklahoma City. However, he wasn’t needed as Kenta Maeda shook off early trouble to throw 6.1 innings.
Maeda was followed by Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen in the Dodgers’ walk-off victory. “It was great. Got what we desperately needed — a starter to eat some innings,” A.J. Ellis said of Maeda’s outing.
“The bullpen has been pretty depleted and guys have been working hard. Kenta really picked us up today with strong outing. I’m proud of him for the way he battled. It was a great game for him.”
There were some question marks surrounding Maeda going into the start as he left his last outing after being hit on the leg by a line-drive comebacker. Somewhat surprisingly he avoided serious injury was said to only be dealing with a bruise.
“Like I said, we weren’t too concerned about his knee,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The medical staff did a great job with Kenta. But first and foremost, Kenta has a lot of fight and heart.”
Maeda allowed a solo home run in the first inning and labored through the second. From there, however, the right-hander settle in. “He made some mechanical adjustments that cleaned up his delivery,” Roberts said.
“He started to get more crispness and depth to the breaking ball, and the fastball was on a better plane, so that was a nice in-game adjustment.” Maeda said the leg issue didn’t affect him. “I was able to pitch more than I thought I would have been able to,” he added.
After struggling through May, Maeda has yielded a 1.82 ERA in four June starts. “There were good and bad times early in the season,” he said. “A day like [Sunday] is an example of what I can do on a regular basis.”
