Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will rejoin the Los Angeles Dodgers next week and start Tuesday's game against the Chicago Cubs, the team announced Wednesday. Yamamoto has been on the injured list with a rotator cuff strain since June 16.
"I think the stuff will be there," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Yamamoto (via MLB.com), who's made two minor-league rehab starts. "I'm not sure about how the command is going to be. So I think the way we're looking at it is we're going to get four starts from him (before the postseason), and if we can log four starts and build up volume, we'll be ready to go beyond that."
In his two Triple-A rehab starts, Yamamoto threw 31 pitches and 53 pitches, so he will be on a pitch limit in his first start off the injured list next week. Figure 65-70 pitches or so. Last time out, he threw those 53 pitches in only two innings in part because former big-league catcher Omar Narváez battled Yamamoto for a 17-pitch at-bat.
The Dodgers needed a spot starter next Tuesday and, for all intents and purposes, Yamamoto on a pitch limit will be the first pitcher in what is functionally a bullpen game. Get maybe three innings from Yamamoto, possibly four, then go to the relief crew. Los Angeles will use righty Landon Knack as a spot starter next Friday to give everyone extra rest.
Twenty-two games remain in the regular season for the Dodgers, who are without Tyler Glasnow (elbow) and Clayton Kershaw (toe), and are unsure whether either will be a full strength in time for the postseason. Yamamoto will join Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty, Bobby Miller, and Gavin Stone in the rotation when he comes off the injured list.
Yamamoto, 26, had a 2.92 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 14 starts and 74 innings before the shoulder injury. That includes a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts following his disastrous five-run, one-inning MLB debut in the Seoul Series. The Dodgers signed him to a pitcher record 12-year, $325 million contact this past offseason.
The Dodgers have baseball's best record at 84-56. They have a 4 1/2-game lead in the NL West.
