The Dodgers’ pitching plans were thrown into flux again Friday.
The team’s scheduled starter for their series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, Tyler Glasnow, was scratched with what manager Dave Roberts said was back tightness. And in his stead, Shohei Ohtani was tapped to fill in on short notice, offering to take the ball two days after having his own scheduled pitching start on Wednesday scratched because of an illness.
“Shohei was up to it, feels good physically,” Roberts said. “Wants the ball tonight.”
According to Roberts, the team is hopeful Glasnow’s issue is not serious. They are targeting to have him pitch again early next week.
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“We just didn’t want to put him in harm’s way,” Roberts said. “It’s not something where we got to the point where he’s hurt or anything like that. It’s back stiffness. So we feel that to not take this start will allow him to be able to start hopefully early next week.”
In the meantime, Ohtani will be on the mound Friday for the first time since Aug. 27, when he completed his first five-inning start of the season in his continued progression back from Tommy John surgery.
Roberts said Ohtani’s start Friday “could be a little shorter,” given the short-notice nature of how it came together.
But he was also hopeful that Ohtani’s willingness to take the mound now — as opposed to Monday, when he had been next scheduled to pitch — could provide the team a much-needed jolt, as they try to bounce back from a sweep against the Pirates in Pittsburgh earlier this week.
“For a guy who is a starter that’s got a routine, that was going to pitch a couple days later, to then change course speaks a lot to what this team needs,” Roberts said. “So I expect our guys to respond to that.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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