The Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation order of Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu did not last long to begin the season, as off days and a rainout have allowed manager Dave Roberts to reshuffle things.
Maeda’s most recent start was skipped due to the postponement of Friday’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants, so he pitched out of the bullpen on Saturday when Hill got the start. Kershaw then started Sunday against the Giants to stay on a normal five-day routine.
After another day off on Monday, the Dodgers begin a two-game home series against the Oakland Athletics. Originally, Wood was scheduled to start the first game on Tuesday, with Ryu following him on Wednesday.
But that is no longer the case, as the two lefties have been swapped due to Wood being ill and missing his scheduled bullpen session, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Wood gets extra day because of illness. Now Ryu starts Tuesday, Wood Wednesday. Wood said he thinks he had food poisoning.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 8, 2018
In addition to Wood, Cody Bellinger was done in by a bout of food poisoning. Bellinger was not in Sunday’s lineup after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts the night prior, when he already wasn’t feeling 100 percent.
For Ryu, Tuesday will only be his second start of the season. His control was not there in his first start of the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks, walking five in 3.2 innings so he will look to bounce back from that.
Wood will be making his third start of the season. He is 0-1 in his first two, although he has yielded a 1.93 ERA.
