The Los Angeles Dodgers were able to avoid being swept by the Washington Nationals with a close victory on Wednesday and in spite of a short outing from Landon Knack.
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Knack received the spot start as the Dodgers hoped to avoid losing five of the six games of their first domestic road trip of the 2025 season.
Coincidentally, Knack made his MLB debut against the Nationals in 2024, but Wednesday’s start didn’t go nearly as well. Knack lacked command of his pitches and was disappointed with the performance, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“First inning especially, just completely out of sync with stuff,” Knack said. “Release point just not there. Really didn’t have changeup command today, and so just kept falling behind, just not able to execute like we usually would. Four walks on the day – that’s not me. Obviously, very frustrating.”
Knack’s struggles resulted in the Dodgers’ four-run lead to begin the game being erased by the bottom of the third inning. Knack was pulled after 2.1 innings, but the Dodgers bullpen was able to pick up the slack and shut out the Nationals the rest of the way.
Despite the disappointing outing from Knack, the Dodgers are having him stick around to make another start next week:
Knack will stick around and make another start next Tuesday or Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies, Roberts said.
Unlike Justin Wrobleski, who was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City after allowing eight runs in five innings to the Nationals on Tuesday, Knack seemingly has earned a longer leash from the Dodgers with his performance from last season.
He yielded a 3.65 ERA in 69 innings pitched and threw at least four innings while giving up two or fewer runs in 11 of his 15 appearances for the Dodgers last season. That included six outings of at least 4.2 innings while allowing two or fewer runs to begin his Major League career.
Landon Knack filling Blake Snell’s spot in Dodgers rotation
Prior to his demotion, there was a possibility that Wrobleski would stay in the Dodgers rotation to fill the vacancy left by Blake Snell, but that now will be Knack’s responsibility.
The Dodgers expect the situation to be short term, believing the results of Snell’s MRI to be the “best-case scenario” and anticipating a quick return.
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