LOS ANGELES — Eric Lauer is doing all he can to buy more time.
With a number of roster changes ahead, Lauer remains where his feet are planted, allowing one hit over six scoreless innings as the Dodgers finished off a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.
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After left-hander Blake Snell and right-hander Tyler Glasnow went down with injuries in May, Lauer was acquired by the Dodgers in what appeared to be a temporary solution. The Toronto Blue Jays moved the left-hander after they had designated him for assignment.
Lauer never blinked. If the stay was going to be a short one, he hadn’t even considered it, calling it a “weird” question asked about handling a potential short stay. He had just arrived after all.
The prospect of moving on now seems like the strange scenario, even as Snell is due back in the rotation next week and Glasnow is set to head out on a minor league rehab assignment.
Wednesday’s victory means the Dodgers are now 9-0 (eight starts) in games pitched by Lauer, who has gone 5-0 with a 2.96 ERA while wearing his Dodgers uniform.
While the approaching trade deadline could create even more roster upheaval, the knee injury to Shohei Ohtani could keep Lauer in the rotation even longer. The Dodgers expect Ohtani to return as a starting pitcher at some point but as of now, there is no timetable for a return.
Change was nearly ahead in the Dodgers’ batting order, with Manager Dave Roberts pondering a move with No. 2 hitter Andy Pages. Roberts held off, though, and his patience was rewarded when Pages hit a first-inning home run and had three hits with two RBIs.
“This is good experience for Andy in the regular season to be at the top of the order,” Roberts said before the game when asked about moving his All-Star outfielder down.
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After Ohtani hit a leadoff home run in the first inning on Tuesday, Pages hit a solo shot as the second batter of the first inning Wednesday. It was Pages’ 22nd of the season but just his second of the month.
Pages played a role in each of the Dodgers’ first three runs. He followed an Ohtani single in the third inning with one of his own, with Ohtani then scoring on a Freddie Freeman broken-bat single.
In the fourth inning, Pages’ single off the glove of Mariners third baseman Weston Wilson scored Mookie Betts. Ohtani was walked intentionally in front of Pages to load the bases.
In the sixth, Ohtani ripped a double into the left-center field gap to score Dalton Rushing from first base. The sore knee that is keeping Ohtani off the mound, is doing little to slow him at the plate.
The Mariners finally scored a run in the eighth inning but not before left fielder Teoscar Hernandez made a leaping catch against the bullpen gate in left field. Seattle’s Cole Young followed one batter later with an RBI single against Tanner Scott.
Young had two of the Mariners’ five hits.
The late Seattle run created a save situation, and Edwin Diaz moved back into his closer role on the day he was activated from the injured list. Diaz had been out since April after a procedure to remove loose bodies from his right elbow.
Diaz gave up a one-out double to Dominic Canzone and an RBI double to Josh Naylor before finishing off his fifth save and first since April 7.
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More to come on this story.