Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow pitched in a game for the first time in 80 days on Tuesday, starting a minor league rehab assignment with the Class-A Ontario Tower Buzzers. Glasnow struck out one in two scoreless innings to open what figures to be a lengthy rehab assignment and a hopeful September return to Los Angeles.
Glasnow needed only 16 pitches to record his six outs on the road against the Lake Elsinore Storm, a San Diego Padres affiliate. He induced a pair of swinging strikes, and got three
groundouts, a fly out, and a pop out.
Tuesday was the first game for Glasnow since suffering back spasms during a May 6 start in Houston, which was cut short after only just one inning. Two days later he was placed on the injured list, and was moved to the 60-day injured list on June 6.
If and when Glasnow might return to the Dodgers, he’ll join a rotation with an altered depth chart. The Dodgers on Sunday traded for Tarik Skubal, who nestles into the top of the list alongside Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Blake Snell is making his fourth and expected final rehab start on Tuesday night for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with an expected return to the Dodgers next week. Shohei Ohtani hasn’t pitched since July 3, and the Dodgers are taking things slowly with his left knee inflammation, while still expecting him to be ready come October.
“We’re as confident as we can be that [Ohtani’s] going to be back and he’s going to start throwing soon and building back up,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Sunday at Dodger Stadium. “You can never perfectly predict the future, but if you said, ‘Hey place a bet on it,’ I would be very confident placing it that he will be back pitching.
“I guess from my standpoint, I really hope we get to the end of the season and everyone’s healthy and feeling good and strong. That’s the best kind of tough decisions and figuring that out that we could possibly have, and we could welcome it.”
