Shohei Ohtani’s run of starting on Wednesdays is over, at least for now.
The Dodgers said Tuesday that Ohtani will not take the mound in the series finale against the A’s in West Sacramento. Instead, his next start has been pushed to Friday against the San Diego Padres. That move breaks a streak of seven straight Wednesday pitching starts, the longest such run on the same day of the week in Dodgers franchise history.
The timing matters, too. Wednesday falls as the Dodgers play the sixth game in a 13-game stretch without a break, and shifting Ohtani to Friday removes any chance he’d be asked to pitch on five days’ rest during that run. He’s only done that once this season.
Last year, the longest same-day streaks for Dodgers pitchers came from Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Yamamoto made six straight Friday starts from March 28 to May 2, while Sasaki logged six straight Saturday starts from March 29 to May 3.
Tuesday also brought another bullpen shuffle.
Wyatt Mills was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take the place of Jonathan Hernández, who was designated for assignment. Hernández had been handling the low-leverage innings at the end of lopsided games, and his 0.167 average leverage index is the lowest among Dodgers relievers with at least five appearances.
The results were rough: an 8.15 ERA and 5.90 xERA across 12 games, with 15 strikeouts and 12 walks in 17 2/3 innings.
Hernández’s departure opens a spot on the 40-man roster for Evan Phillips, who is expected to be activated from the 60-day injured list soon. In the meantime, Mills gets the call. He’s made four mop-up appearances for the Dodgers this year, allowing three runs in 3 1/3 innings with seven walks and one strikeout.
In Other News...
Dave Roberts Nears A Dodgers Milestone Worth Celebrating
Dave Roberts has spent more than a decade shaping the Dodgers into one of baseballs model franchises, and the resume is already long enough to define an era. Multiple division titles, regular postseason trips, pennants and three World Series championships have come with his name on them, a run of success that has made him one of the most accomplished managers in team history.
Now Roberts is closing in on another marker that would deepen that legacy, one that only a small handful of Dodgers skippers have ever reached. It is a reminder that his value has never been limited to lineup cards and bullpen calls, either, because Roberts has long emphasized the counseling and mentoring side of the job as a major part of what he does every day. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Max Muncy Had A Truly Bizarre Night Against Max Muncy
For one night in Oakland, the Dodgers and Athletics managed a matchup that looked almost designed to confuse everyone keeping score. Both clubs started a Max Muncy at third base and in the seventh spot in the order, a rare twist made even stranger by the fact that the Dodgers Max Muncy, born in 1990, and the As Max Muncy, born in 2002, both came up through the Athletics organization before their paths split.
The veteran Muncy still made the night look normal enough at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, while the younger Muncy reached base and scored for Oakland. However odd the scoreboard may have felt, the real head-scratcher was simply the name being called at third base and not meaning the same player each time, leaving a matchup that belonged as much to baseball trivia as to the box score. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Gave Up On Another Recent Draft Pick
The Dodgers have quietly moved on from another recent draftee, trimming a bit more from a farm system that has long been expected to churn out position-player depth. The latest departure comes after a brief look this season and ends a minor league run that stretched across 228 games, mostly at shortstop and second base, before the organization decided to part ways.
The end result is a familiar kind of reminder about how unforgiving the path can be even for players with draft pedigree. He had never moved beyond High-A, and his time in the system finished with a .228 average and 20 home runs, leaving the Dodgers to keep searching for infield help elsewhere in the pipeline. [Read more 🡒]