The number of Los Angeles Dodgers injuries continues to increase, with David Price the latest to join that group because of a hamstring strain. Price suffered the injury in Sunday’s 8-7 loss to the San Diego Padres.
He entered with a 7-1 lead in the seventh and had an ineffective inning of work. Considering the Dodgers did not have Scott Alexander, Kenley Jansen or Blake Treinen available, the hope was to get multiple innings out of Price.
“I just felt there was a chance he could give us two innings and we would see where we were at,” Roberts explained after the game. “Actually, there’s a hamstring situation. I don’t know which hamstring. He finished the inning and that was going to be it for him.
“We just learned there was a hamstring strain. We’ll see [Monday] once we evaluate him. But yeah, the hope was for him to go a couple innings right there.”
Price gave up back-to-back singles on his first three pitches, then appeared to induce a potential inning-ending double play, but Sheldon Neuse booted a ground ball that left the bases loaded. Victor Caratini cut the Dodgers’ lead in half with a two-run single before Price did get a double play.
After Price only managed to log the one inning, Brusdar Graterol and Victor Gonzalez were both needed in the eighth, and the Padres scored two more runs. They completed the rally by scoring two in the ninth inning as well, thwarting Jimmy Nelson’s first career save attempt.
“They’ve just got to not walk guys and execute pitches,” Roberts said of his relief pitchers.
Price had started to find a rhythm and routine as a relief pitcher, and losing him to injury would be another blow for a Dodgers bullpen that is already due to be without Corey Knebel for multiple months.
Dodgers have rough timeline for Kelly
The Dodgers have dealt with injuries to pitchers since the start of Spring Training. Joe Kelly dealt with shoulder trouble that led to falling behind in a throwing progression and he never appeared in a Cactus League game.
Roberts remained vague on when he would come off the 10-day injured list, only noting that Kelly was roughly two weeks behind Graterol in a buildup. However, over the weekend Roberts offered a rough estimate for Kelly’s activation, pointing to early or mid-May as the target.
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