LOS ANGELES — They may be good, maybe eventually very good, but young pitchers still have things to learn. And while these bumps in the road can be learning and ultimately beneficial experiences, it can be little comfort when the outcome is gruesome.
Gavin Stone and Michael Grove, two of the Dodgers’ early-season surprises, both faced the difficult aspects of raising a rookie Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Stone, who has been an integral part of the rotation for a month, was battered in the Diamondbacks’ 7-3 win — eight hits and four runs, including a booming home run by Christian Walker, in his six innings of work. Grove, who has become a leveraged reliever in recent weeks, entered the game at the seventh score 4-3 and left it 7-3, with a leadoff walk to No. 9 hitter Kevin Newman ultimately leading to a three-point shot. by Joc Pederson who put the game out of reach for Arizona.
“It’s a situation where he just can’t get the first guy out,” Roberts said. “And then obviously that brings Joc to the plate and, you know, (Grove) left a slider out and he does what he does to right-handed pitchers.
“Michael had a good run. So hopefully he can learn from this while continuing to build on the momentum he’s had.
Things happen and you learn from them, right?
Overall, it was a night, a temporary setback perhaps but also a night that allowed manager Dave Roberts to save his bullpen. Stone going six innings and 93 pitches was a definite plus, with the Dodgers nearing the end of a 13-game streak and guys Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson able to get some rest.
Stone “did a good job competing, keeping us in the game, going through six innings,” Roberts said afterward. “I thought those guys had a pretty good game plan against him.”
Stone allowed four straight hits and two runs in the second, with Eugenio Suarez going the other way on a slider for an RBI single and catcher Gabriel Moreno ripping another slider up the middle for Arizona’s second run. Newman singled with one out in the fifth, advancing to third on Corbin Carroll’s double to stop a sinker and score on Ketel Marte’s groundout. And Walker hit his ninth homer of the year in the sixth for a 4-1 lead, a deep drive into the box down the left field line on a 3-and-2 changeup.
“Probably just with the change, it didn’t really feel the best,” Stone said. “But I felt really good about everything else.”
The key to Stone’s success is mastery of the fastball, as Roberts emphasized during his pregame briefing.
“He has a few different breaking balls (to lefties and right-handed hitters),” Roberts said. “But if he can get ahead with the fastball and control it, then that will put these guys even more on their heels.” And to be honest, he’s been very good with it this year. His results are the result of taking a lead and mastering the fastball. So, you know, if he can get that fastball to the plate with late movement, there’s soft contact induction, lead in the count, swing and miss with other pitches.
“He was fantastic. It withstood some very stressful innings, minimizing damage, which shows growth. I think it’s just kind of the low dart getting ahead of the hitters. This is very revealing to me, because everything else depends on this.
According to the website Baseball Savant, Stone threw seven Arizona batters with first pitches Tuesday night and got outs on six of them. Five others swung at the first pitch, and two got hits, Suarez’s RBI single in the second and Carroll’s double in the fifth. He was out of the zone with the first pitch to 13 batters, and five of them got hits.
“Every outing is a learning experience, no matter your age,” Stone said. “You just have to learn from it and grow.”
He’ll get the ball back in a few days, in a rotation that’s largely a work in progress.
Hours before Stone took the mound under the lights, Bobby Miller threw a three-inning, 51-pitch simulated game. Miller was placed on injured reserve on April 13, retroactive to the 10th, due to shoulder inflammation. He is scheduled to rehab on Sunday at Rancho Cucamonga and likely a few more rehab sessions will begin after that.
Beyond that, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May have recently thrown bullpens in preparation for the second half of the schedule. Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, James Paxton and Walker Buehler are in the current rotation along with Stone. Landon Knack got the start the other day. There are, undeniably, more starting pitchers than there are spots on the roster when all are healthy.
So when SCNG colleague Bill Plunkett raised the possibility of a six-person rotation, Roberts responded, “Um, I think we’re open to anything.” » And then he voiced his biggest fear, which was that a six-man rotation would reduce the bullpen from eight to seven pitchers, and in this era of baseball, that carries considerable risk.
Tuesday aside, Grove demonstrated that he could ultimately be one of those leveraged relievers, although the bullpen will get even busier when Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol are at new ready to launch.
Eventually, the pitching situation will work itself out. With a big lead in the division already and the realization that this organization is playing for October, it’s time.
jalexander@scng.com
California Daily Newspapers
