Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates exited in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game because of left hamstring tightness, the team announced.
More news: Dave Roberts Reveals Expectations for Clayton Kershaw’s Return to Dodgers
Yates gave up a three-run home run to Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe before his untimely departure. The right-hander gave up two earned runs across 0.1 innings pitched.
The latest news does not bode well for a Dodgers bullpen that is already depleted, and the pitching staff in general. The Dodgers currently have 14 pitchers on the injured list, the latest being Roki Sasaki.
The Dodgers bullpen currently leads the league innings, a concerning trend for a team that has several pitchers sidelined by injuries. Manager Dave Roberts said the current usage of the bullpen is not a sustainable business model.
“It just seems like certain guys – and I could go back on each starter – but you’re still trying to manage their health and … [be] mindful of the innings that the bullpen is taking on and trying to stagger as much you can, and manage leverage and all that stuff,” Roberts said earlier this month.
“Absolutely not, we (don’t) want to lead the league in bullpen innings.”
It’s unclear how severe Yates’ injury is, but it perhaps was a reason for his poor performance on the mound Saturday night. The right-hander has a 3.86 ERA with 31 strikeouts and one save across 18.2 innings pitched for the Dodgers this year.
Yates signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the defending champions in the offseason.
More news: Dodgers Activate Clayton Kershaw, Move Blake Snell to 60-Day IL
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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2 Responses
This is what you get when you are obsessed with signing injury prone starters who spend more time on the IL than they do actually pitching. You currently have 2 reliable starters ( Yoshi and Tony ), and multiple key bullpen guys on the IL. You are paying Snell and Glasnow 60 million a year between them to sit and play catch. And I wish Kershaw would retire and go home. His best days are long gone. You reap what you sow, and Friedman has probably cost this team any chance at repeating as champions.
Signing Snell over Corbin Burns was puzzling, given Snells inability to stay healthy. Not sure why they don’t try to turn Bobby Miller into a reliever, given his inability to go deep and a game without getting whacked around. The Dodgers definitely need to get younger and stay away from pictures with previous arm problems, given the recurring nature of those injuries. They can all get healthy by August/September, this team will be a forced to be reckoned with. If not, we will lose a lot of 11-9 type of games like tonight’s.