The Dodgers began an eight-game trip on Thursday with a 13-0 blowout from the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
And it may not even have been the most important team development of the day.
After seven Scoreless Innings by Tyler Anderson and the second-highest-scoring outburst of the season, the Dodgers improved to 66-32 and extended their lead in the National League West to 12 games over the inactive San Diego Padres.
“Tonight was just a good day to be a Dodger,” said manager Dave Roberts.
Including a few injured pitchers who are now on the mend.
While the Dodgers dominated the Rockies (45-55), righthander Dustin May completed his second rehab start with triple-A Oklahoma City in his return from Tommy John surgery. And Thursday’s outing went much better than the first.
Unlike last week, when May struggled with his command during a two-inning outing, the 24-year-old struckout six batters over three scoreless innings. He only allowed two hits. He reached 99.9 mph with his sinker. And he found the zone with 32 of his 46 pitches.
Before Thursday’s outing, Roberts said May would start at least one more rehab next week. The team will then review his progress, although it’s likely he’ll need another outing after that.
Regardless, May remains on track to return to the major league roster sometime next month — which should give the Dodgers time to decide if he’s ready to be part of their playoff starting rotation, or play a hybrid role that would be similar to its use in previous postseasons.
Reliever Blake Trains is on a similar track.
Roberts announced on Thursday afternoon that Treinen, who was staying in Los Angeles, will face live hitters on Friday for the first time since his shoulder injury in April – an important step in the reliever’s carefully managed recovery process.
The news came just two days after Roberts initially said the righthander was weeks away from hitting live.
Since then, however, Treinen said he felt ready to take the next progression in his rehab, after several weeks of routine bullpen sessions.
“[He’s] getting closer,” Roberts said of when Treinen could return to the active roster. “I still don’t see Blake back in the next three weeks. So the end of August makes sense.”
For the Dodgers, Trains and May’s status will not only be important in October, but may help determine how they approach Tuesday’s trading UKTN.
If the team believes that those two pitchers — as well as several other injured arms, including Walker Buehler, Brusdar Graterol, Tommy Kahnle, Danny Duffy and Victor González — will be able to make a contribution at the end, it would be their need. can reduce to strengthen the pitching staff.
Conversely, if those players fall behind schedule or face setbacks, it could increase the team’s urgency to get reinforcements on the mound — calculations Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said last week would send the team’s front office over the next week. should make days.
“We don’t need anything,” Roberts said this week. “But any team can always get better on the margins. So if there’s anything that makes sense, I’m confident in our guys that they’ll pull the trigger.”
In the meantime, the current roster of the Dodgers continued through Thursday in July and advanced to 19-4 this month by matching their most lopsided win of the season.
Anderson shutout the team for the seventh season of the season – reliever Jake Reed and infielder Hanser Alberto also threw scoreless innings – after shaking off an early dispute when Rockies manager Bud Black told the umpires at the start of the game asked for the left-handed resin stain on the brim of his cap.
“There was a little residue, residual material [from the] resin on his hat,’ said Roberts. “They just wanted to remove it.”
The Dodgers’ offense, meanwhile, got a three-hit, three-RBI outing from Trea Turner, three RBIs from Will Smith and three hits from Gavin Lux in a night that safely reached everyone in the lineup at least once.
“We just set it up early,” said Lux, “and tried to play downhill from there.”
Rios plays for Oklahoma City
Edwin Rios began a rehabilitation assignment in Oklahoma City on Thursday, nearly two months after the infielder was out due to a hamstring injury. Roberts said the team has not yet decided how long Ríos will need in the minors. They want the slugger to get some consistent playing time after having played only 52 games in the big league in the past two seasons.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
