Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki is going on the Injured List with a blister on his middle finger.
Following the Los Angeles Dodgers' series loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, skipper Dave Roberts announced that Roki Sasaki, who exited after 66 pitches, is landing on the Injured List to recover from a blister.
This comes after Sasaki was removed prematurely in the fourth inning. He walked Ozzie Albies to kick off the inning, which was followed by a Mike Yastrzemski single and a sacrifice fly from Austin Riley that cut the Dodgers' lead by one.
Sean Murphy's ground-rule double is what set the alarms inside the Los Angeles dugout. His velocity on the fastball began to dip, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Mark Prior and trainer Thomas Albert.
Sasaki looked down and showed the pair his bloody-soaked middle finger. Roberts soon followed onto the mound and ended his night early, calling on the bullpen to take over.
The right-hander gave up foru earned runs on six hits over 3.1 innings in the walk-off defeat.
"It was a pretty good blister. It just came out of nowhere," Roberts said regarding Sasaki's blister via SportsNetLA.
Sasaki's blister issue comes at a time when he's put up an impressive stretch on the mound coming out of the All-Star break. In six starts since July, Sasaki has posted a 2.31 ERA across 35 innings.
At first, Sasaki did not initally feel any inkling of a blister forming.
"When I was facing the first hitter in the fourth inning, I actually didn’t feel anything; my skin just ripped off. After that, it got worse," Sasaki said via SportsNetLA.
Apparently, according to Sasaki, he's dealt with blisters back in his playing days in Japan, but a fair warning would be issued before a flare-up commenced.
"When I was in Japan, I felt similar things a couple of times. But at the time, I felt something coming beforehand, but this time was a different case," Sasaki said.
With Sasaki on the IL, Roberts says that Eric Lauer, who was recently put in the bullpen upon the arrival of Tyler Glasnow, will take his spot in the rotation.
Roberts added that they will bandage up Sasaki's finger in order to keep his arm loose, but an IL stint was inevitable.
“There’s just no way we can avoid it given the severity of the blister," Roberts said.
Lauer's transition back to the rotation provides the Dodgers with some breathing room as they navigate Shohei Ohtani's build-up in his return to the mound.
Ohtani is slated to throw a bullpen session this Friday when the team travels to play the Detroit Tigers. From there, he may get the start on Sunday or pitch in the series opener at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.
