LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers were off on Thursday and are off again on Labor Day Monday, and they are using that schedule quirk to shuffle the starting rotation a bit. Emmet Sheehan will be skipped this next time through the order, and will be available out of the bullpen beginning on Sunday against the Diamondbacks, manager Dave Roberts said Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Sheehan has been solid in his return from Tommy John surgery, with a 3.56 ERA and 3.55 xERA in 10 games, including eight starts and two
bulk relief efforts. He’s pitched regularly for the last two months since getting called back up from Triple-A, and his coming off the best start of his career with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings in Monday’s win over the Reds. But he’s No. 6 on the depth chart in the Dodgers’ six-man rotation, and this temporary switch keeps everyone else in pretty much regular order.
Clayton Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani are lined up to start on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, each on six days rest. Blake Snell would follow next on Thursday at PNC Park, on five days rest.
Roberts said Ohtani will remain in the lineup as designated hitter all three games in Pittsburgh, including on Thursday, the day after his pitching start, calling the rare rest day for Ohtani on August 21 at Coors Field “pretty much a one-time situation when we were in Colorado.”
September roster additions
Active roster limits expand from 26 to 28 on Monday, September 1, including a limit of 14 pitchers. The plan remains for the Dodgers to use those two roster spots to activate Hyeseong Kim and Michael Kopech off the injured list.
Kim has played eight games so far on his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City, going 9-for-30 (.300/.333/.367) with a triple and two walks, and has played shortstop, left field, second base, and center field in addition to designated hitter.
After playing four days in a row, Kim is not starting on Saturday night. Roberts said Kim would likely play once more this weekend, and will join the team at PNC Park. Kopech has already rejoined the Dodgers in Los Angeles and will travel with the team to Pittsburgh.
Kopech walked three of his five batters faced and hit another on Friday night in Triple-A, allowing three runs. That’s been par for the course in the minors for Kopech, with nine walks and five strikeouts in seven games on his current rehab assignment.
He has incredible dueling stat lines this year of a 13.89 ERA in 16 rehab games for Oklahoma City, with 20 walks and 15 strikeouts, and in the majors has a 0.00 ERA in eight games, with four walks and eight strikeouts.
“I think it’s just a competition and focus thing, I really do,” Roberts said. “With different players, in the sense of service time and age — we saw the same thing with Edgardo [Henriquez], and you know, once he gets here, the focus is heightened. And we’ve seen that from Michael as well.”
Kopech is on the 60-day injured list after meniscus surgery, but the Dodgers already cleared a 40-man roster spot for him when Buddy Kennedy was designated for assignment earlier this week.
