Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow Didn’t Have His Best Stuff in Opening Day Victory
If Tyler Glasnow’s performance in the Dodgers’ 5-2 Opening Day win over the San Diego Padres was representative of the pitcher on a bad day, good things are in store for him this season.
Glasnow told reporters, including Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain, that he was effectively working with two functional pitches Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea against the Padres. The right-hander allowed two runs over five innings in a no-decision in his Dodgers debut.
Speaking specifically about his curveball, Glasnow said:
“It was bad. The whole game I just didn’t have it. Honestly, my slider today was just kind of what I was pitching off of and everything else felt kind of inconsistent. I tried to get it back later, but it was just one of those day where it was not really there.”
— Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow threw 10 curveballs in the game, according to Statcast. Three were swung at, and only one was missed. (The other two were foul balls.) In 2023, Glasnow threw the pitch more than 20 percent of the time, so the lack of a curveball had a dramatic impact on Glasnow’s overall repertoire.
The off-day scarcely hurt the Dodgers, who rallied for four runs in the eighth inning against the Padres’ bullpen. Glasnow lasted longer in the game than Padres counterpart Yu Darvish, who threw 72 pitches but could not complete four innings.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, Glasnow’s slider was working wonders, inducing eight swings and misses. The pitch was responsible for all three of his strikeouts. His fastball touched 98 mph, and he was able to complete five innings.
“He made pitches when he needed to and it was good to get him through that fifth inning clean. He had two stressful innings, in the third and fourth inning, and it just didn’t make any sense to send him out for the sixth. It was a good outing for him. I know there were some at-bats he would’ve liked to have back, misfiring, but he made some pitches when he needed to — the sign of an ace.”
— Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on pitcher Tyler Glasnow
Assuming Glasnow has all three of his primary pitches working, the Dodgers can expect longer outings from their new ace in the future.
Photo Credit: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters via USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, livestreams and more!
