ATLANTA — The blister that forced Roki Sasaki from his start on Wednesday night and landed him on the injured list on Thursday appeared “suddenly, without any warning signs” but isn’t anything new to him.
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Sasaki said after the game that he has dealt with this in the past when pitching in Japan, usually after a cracked fingernail changed the pressure point on his finger. But that doesn’t mean he has a good idea of how long this blister will take to heal.
“Yeah, that’s right. Healing can work a bit differently here compared to when I was in Japan, so it’s hard to say right now how long it will take to recover,” Sasaki said in Japanese on Wednesday night. “We shouldn’t rush it. I’ll need to monitor the situation and my progress while keeping an eye on the schedule.
“There were times in the past when returning too early actually made things worse. Taking those experiences into account, I’ll sit down with the trainers and coaches to discuss the best path forward.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed that “it’s too early to say” if a two-week stay on the IL will be long enough for Sasaki’s finger to heal. Also uncertain is what Sasaki’s role might be when he returns.
Sasaki has posted a 3.05 ERA over his past seven starts, but he will not be in the starting rotation for the postseason if the Dodgers’ front four of Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani are all healthy.
If Sasaki is going to move into a bullpen role for the postseason, there might be some value in moving him into that role for the final weeks of the regular season as preparation.
“That’s contingent on when he comes back. If it’s the short end, yes. If it’s longer, I think it’s a different discussion,” Roberts said of Sasaki returning to the rotation.
“There’s certainly value in that (an early move to the bullpen). There’s also value at some point – and I don’t know the schedule in the next two weeks, off days and all of that stuff and where starters are going to be – with having him inserted (into the rotation) to give other guys blows. That’s a harder one for me right now to answer that.”
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TUCK OFF
Right fielder Kyle Tucker and third baseman Max Muncy were not in the starting lineup against Braves left-hander Chris Sale on Thursday. Tucker has actually hit left-handed pitchers (.254 with a .740 OPS) better than right-handers (.218 and .656) this season. Given Tucker’s season-long struggles, though, Roberts was asked if he will have to consider sitting him when the Dodgers face a tough left-handed pitcher in the postseason as well.
“I hope not,” Roberts said. “I do think that the best version of our ballclub – versus right, versus left – is with Tuck in the lineup.
“I just think that right now, given where he’s at, where he’s been at certainly for a minute, just to give him a day. A week ago, I let him try to fight his way through it. But today I didn’t want to feel like I’m piling on against a really tough starter. Get him ready for the weekend. Chris Sale in the postseason, I would expect him to be in the lineup.”
Muncy has held his own against left-handed pitching this season, batting .247 with an .815 OPS and six of his 26 home runs (compared to .255 and .859 against right-handers).
FRESH ARM
With Sasaki going to the IL on Thursday, the Dodgers promoted right-hander Seth Halvorsen from Triple-A, giving some help to a strained bullpen. Halvorsen threw a scoreless inning in his only previous appearance with the Dodgers and had a 0.93 ERA in 10 appearances with Oklahoma City since he was acquired from the Colorado Rockies.
“We haven’t seen much of him. What we have seen, I’ve liked,” Roberts said before Thursday’s game. “We’ve got a couple guys down (unavailable) today. I’m just going to throw him in there. I’m not saying it’s to finish a game in the ninth inning. But he’s probably our most rested reliever and it’s going to come in hot. So I’m going to run him out there if the situation calls for it.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Tarik Skubal, 8-7, 2.91 ERA) at Tigers (RHP Drew Anderson, 4-5, 4.09 ERA), Saturday, 3:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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