LOS ANGELES — His final day out, Tyler Glasnow was almost unhittable en path to hanging out 14 batters in Minnesota. In each method, he confirmed precisely why the Dodgers made it a precedence to commerce for him this winter and instantly locking him as much as a long-term deal.
Nearly as good as Glasnow was his final day out, he struggled equally as a lot on Monday, permitting six runs over 5 innings within the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Nationals on Jackie Robinson Day at Dodger Stadium. With the loss, the Dodgers have now dropped 4 of their final 5 video games.
“It’s simply not a whole lot of execution,” Glasnow mentioned. “I don’t suppose any of the pitches had been actually working, not hitting my spots and falling behind early. If I’m usually throwing sort of one pitch for a strike, I feel you’re in a position to sit on one thing and keep on the heater, and I feel it’s simply simpler to promote out for one pitch.”
The one pitch Glasnow significantly didn’t have any management of was his four-seam fastball. Glasnow threw it 47 occasions on Monday, getting simply three swings-and-misses. For comparability, Glasnow threw the four-seamer 45 occasions final day out in opposition to the Twins, and coaxed 12 whiffs.
With Glasnow not getting a lot with the heater on Monday, the Nationals had been in a position to keep inside the strike zone and do injury after they bought a mistake. There was no pitch larger than within the fifth inning, when Luis García Jr. took a Glasnow slider simply over the left-center-field wall for a three-run homer.
“It was only a dangerous slider, left it up, not executed,” Glasnow mentioned. “I feel simply being late and never with the ability to execute tonight, it was only a tremendous hittable pitch.”
Whereas the Dodgers absolutely count on Glasnow — who was below the climate, in response to supervisor Dave Roberts — to bounce again from this efficiency and provides him the ace-like performances they count on, the beginning rotation as an entire must be significantly better shifting ahead.
Over their final 5 video games, just one Dodgers starter has gotten greater than 15 outs in a begin and that was rookie Gavin Stone, who allowed simply two runs over 6 2/3 innings in opposition to San Diego on Saturday. It was additionally the one sport the Dodgers have received throughout this stretch.
“I might say, general, in all probability not,” Roberts mentioned, when requested if the workforce is getting sufficient manufacturing out of its starters recently. “Being aware of early on within the season, constructing them up and managing the workload is one a part of it. But additionally you’ve bought to nonetheless be environment friendly to provide me the chance to run you on the market into the sixth or into the seventh inning.”
It doesn’t get any simpler for the Dodgers over the subsequent two days, as they’re going to go along with a bullpen sport on Tuesday. Ryan Yarbrough will deal with the majority innings, whereas Kyle Harm, who is predicted to get activated earlier than the sport, might additionally play a giant function.
On Wednesday, with Bobby Miller on the injured record for at the least a few weeks, the Dodgers might’ve elected to pitch Yoshinobu Yamamoto, their $325 million acquisition of the winter, to pitch on common relaxation. Nevertheless, the membership is continuous to be aware of his workload early on within the season, given he solely pitched as soon as per week throughout his profession in Japan.
“So — they’re going to be higher,” Roberts mentioned. “I feel we’re going a very good job of managing the well being, managing the workload. However it’s a two-way avenue, too. Completely.”
Stretches like this are going to occur throughout an extended, 162-game season, however the Dodgers wish to make certain they don’t let the losses pile up, particularly throughout a nine-game homestand in opposition to three groups that missed the postseason in ‘23. Because it often does, it’ll begin with significantly better pitching performances.
“No person likes to lose. However you possibly can’t panic,” mentioned Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández. “It’s simply what occurs in baseball. They performed higher than us tonight, so we simply have to indicate up tomorrow with the identical enthusiasm and attempt to win.”
