There was more good news on Sunday about starting pitcher Dustin May, who escaped serious injury Thursday when struck on the left foot by a Josh Rojas line drive in Arizona.
Manager Dave Roberts said May could start as early as Wednesday against the Padres in San Diego, with Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin lined up for Monday and Tuesday's games. May was scheduled to throw a light bullpen session on Sunday and participate in defensive drills to assure he can field his position.
Mitch White , currently assigned to the alternate training site, was to throw a four-inning simulated game on Sunday with Justin Turner and Max Muncy batting. That would line up White to be promoted to start on Friday in place of Walker Buehler, who is on the injured list with a right index finger blister.
Although White has pitched only one Major League inning, he's emerged as the thinned-out staff's most likely emergency starter since the Deadline trade of Ross Stripling to Toronto.
In addition to the shifting starting rotation, reliever Joe Kelly is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Monday. He will have served his five-game suspension with Tuesday's game and would be eligible to rejoin the bullpen on Wednesday. Ghosts of 2017 were all over Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, when Kenley Jansen blew a three-run lead by allowing five runs in the ninth inning and the Astros stormed to a 7-5 win over the Dodgers.
Julio Urías' bullpen-saving six innings were undermined when Jansen was unable to retire any of the six batters he faced. Barely two weeks remain before the postseason and Dave Roberts, managing the team with the best record in baseball, is being asked how long the leash is on his award-winning fireman.
“As far as leash, he's our closer,” said Roberts. “But obviously, performance matters, it does. And everyone in that clubhouse understands that.” Jansen was National League Closer of the Month way back in August. But on Tuesday night in Arizona he allowed three runs and a homer, when Roberts said Jansen was “scattered” with his pitches. Saturday night Jansen was getting ahead in nearly every count, “but just couldn't put guys away.”
Jansen -- whose ERA spiked from 1.06 to 3.93 in two outings -- said he turned the page on Tuesday, but that Saturday was “just a nightmare.”
“I can't execute pitches to put them away and it's just frustrating,” said Jansen. “I'm ahead of the count on everyone and just didn't execute like I used to. It's unacceptable. This feels terrible.” Jansen knows most of these Astros. He saved two games in the 2017 World Series, but also blew a save in Game 2 and took the crushing loss in Game 5. He pitched scoreless innings in both Dodgers wins in Houston earlier this season, including Joe Kelly's infamous purpose-pitch with a pout performance for which Kelly is currently serving a five-game suspension, leaving the staff short-handed.
But as reassuring as it was for Urías to step up on the eve of a bullpen game forced by injuries to starters Walker Buehler and Dustin May, Jansen jumping the tracks gives the club a critical area of concern with October approaching.
If Jansen isn't the closer, Blake Treinen is the only other current Dodgers pitcher with a successful closer history. Brusdar Graterol is a fan favorite because he throws 101 mph, but he's 22 and has been withheld from high-leverage situations. With Houston having lost eight of its previous nine, this game appeared in hand when Jansen followed Treinen, the primary setup man who allowed an eighth-inning run.
Initially reaching only 89 mph with his cutter, Jansen got ahead of Carlos Correa 0-1, but Correa singled to left. Jansen jumped ahead 0-2 on Aledmys Diaz, who fouled off two pitches then singled to left. Former Dodgers teammate Josh Reddick swung and missed a cutter to go to 1-2, but laced a two-run double on a four-seam fastball. Martín Maldonado singled Reddick to third on a 1-0 four-seamer. George Springer lashed an 0-2 cutter through third baseman Max Muncy for an error (exit velocity 101.4 mph) that scored Reddick, and Alex Bregman chased Jansen with a soft RBI single on a 1-2 slider. Pitcher Dustin May did not suffer a fractured left foot when struck with a line drive on Thursday in Arizona, manager Dave Roberts said on Saturday, but he also didn't say when May would make his next start, nor did he rule out the injured list.
“There was no fracture. Right now it seems like just a contusion,” Roberts said. “It's sort of a day-to-day thing. We're not going to make any decision as far as when he's going to pitch, the IL situation right now. We still have some time before we make a decision.”
May was struck on the inside of the foot by Josh Rojas' liner on the second pitch of the first inning. After a couple of warmup throws, May was allowed to remain in the game, threw several 99-mph fastballs and completed a scoreless 16-pitch inning. But he walked off the mound at the end of that inning favoring the foot and was removed after beginning warmups prior to the second inning.
“Now it's up to us to get some of the swelling to subside, alleviate some of the discomfort for Dustin, and at that point it's per his tolerance,” Roberts said.
Pitching through foot discomfort risks mechanical adjustments that can lead to arm injuries, so Roberts indicated that May won't be rushed back. May wore a protective boot until Friday's CT scan but is now walking without it.
“One part of it is his tolerance, but you also don't want to compromise the delivery, which obviously would put the arm kind of at risk in some capacity,” Roberts said. “Making sure he can repeat his delivery and not compensate, that's the thing. That's why it's day to day.”
May inherited the Opening Day start and a rotation spot with the early-season injuries to Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood and the absence of David Price. His early departure came on the same day the Dodgers placed starter Walker Buehler on the injured list for a second time for a blister on his right index finger.
Roberts is confident that Buehler and May will perform well in the postseason if they are healthy, even after missing starts in the two-week runup. Buehler has been playing catch with the blister covered. Roberts said that Tony Gonsolin, who allowed three runs in five innings of relief on Thursday, will start on Tuesday.
May was knocked out of a game in Arizona on Sept. 1, 2019, when a Jake Lamb liner struck him on the head. He didn't miss a start and didn't allow a run the rest of the month. “I'm a ball magnet in Arizona on that field,” said May. “It's weird. I haven't had a clean inning there. They're freak accidents. It's baseball. It's not like people are aiming to hit it at me. It's just the way the cookie crumbles in Arizona for my starts. I've got to go out and do the same thing and hope for better results.”
Chase Field is also where Kenta Maeda was drilled on the leg by a Paul Goldschmidt liner on June 14, 2016. He also didn't miss a start. Hiroki Kuroda wasn't as lucky on Aug. 15, 2009, when a Rusty Ryal liner caromed off his head, went to the D-backs' on-deck circle and bounced into the stands. Kuroda missed three weeks, but after returning was bothered by a sore neck he believed was probably caused by the incident and ended the season with a disastrous postseason loss in Philadelphia.
With a shortage of starting pitchers, the Dodgers need to go with a bullpen game on Sunday. Roberts said the opener would be decided based on bullpen usage on Saturday night. One candidate is rookie Victor Gonzalez, who pitched only one inning on Thursday night. Alex Wood is another.
The Dodgers were expected to activate reliever Pedro Baez (strained right groin) from the IL before Saturday's game and option reliever Josh Sborz to the alternate training site. Baez has been out since Aug. 9.
Early next week is the "best-case scenario” for the return of Justin Turner (left hamstring), Roberts said.
Reliever Joe Kelly, still serving his suspension, had a planned one-inning sim game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
Joc Pederson was activated from the paternity list on Friday, and Matt Beaty was optioned.