There’s been some reshuffling along the way but the Los Angeles Dodgers have largely managed to navigate a surplus of starting pitchers quite well. There depth has been trimmed away some by Scott Kazmir not yet pitching this year and Julio Urias undergoing season-ending surgery.
Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood have experienced the most movement. Wood began the season in the bullpen but is now an integral member of the rotation. Maeda and Ryu each earned a spot on the Opening Day roster as a starter, but have moonlighted as a reliever.
Some of that was in response to shaky performance, which Maeda and Ryu have largely rectified over recent weeks. Sunday night saw another stellar outing from Ryu, as he held the New York Mets to just one hit over seven innings.
After the start, Ryu highlighted why he believes the Dodgers’ pitching depth, particularly with starters, is a positive situation, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I feel no differently,” Ryu said through his interpreter Sunday. “We have a lot of good starting pitchers. This competition is very for good for us because every single one of us is working hard to stay in the rotation.”
The 30-year-old made consecutive starts in front of a national audience on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, and has thrown a combined 14 scoreless innings while allowing just six hits, and collecting 15 strikeouts against one walk.
The back-to-back shutout starts were a first for Ryu since April 11 and 17, 2014, when he also threw seven scoreless frames over two outings.
On the season, he’s now 4-6 with one save, a 3.53 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 17 games (16 starts). Ryu has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his past 10 games (nine starts).
He and Maeda have stabilized the rotation for the time being, but the Dodgers figure to again face a crunch once Clayton Kershaw and Brandon McCarthy return from the disabled list.
