Gavin Stone wanted to come out and have a stellar outing for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

Consider his mission accomplished.

Stone only pitched one inning, but it was a perfect three-up, three-down inning as the Dodgers started piling up runs early and often. In the end, the Dodgers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 11-3 in a home game at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

Dodgers fans haven't seen much of Stone as he's been working hard to come back from shoulder surgery. The fact that he went out there and performed as well as he did must have been a big-time pick-me-up for Stone as well as the Dodgers' pitching staff.

"That’s my bread and butter," Stone said, according to MLB.com Dodgers reporter Sonja Chen, talking about using his changeup. "So if I don’t have that, I’m screwed. It was the easiest pitch on my shoulder to throw. It never really hurt, so I got to practice it a lot, just getting the feel for it. Seeing the results today is really uplifting."

For Stone, it was his first in-game action since 2024. Later that season, he had season-ending shoulder surgery. Ultimately, Stone was not available for the World Series that season or, of course, in 2025.

But he took advantage of the chance to show Dodgers manager Dave Roberts that he's still worth taking a look at this season.

"I think that one, him performing well in '24 gives him the confidence to feel like he can pick back up," Roberts said. "And then two, missing out on two World Series, I think that that leaves that desire, that bitter taste, that he-wasn't-able-to-be-and-finish-with-us incentive."

It's a pretty stacked Dodgers rotation with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and others packing it right now. Still, Stone has a big goal in mind.

"For me, my goal is to make the team out of camp," Stone said. "So I’m doing everything I can to make that happen."

While Stone is still working on the kinks in his pitching form, there remains a deep desire to get back to the way he was pitching in 2024. For one of his Dodgers teammates, he's definitely looking pretty good in his eyes.

"He was on his way to being one of our studs a couple years ago, and it's nice to see him back on the mound pitching like he did," Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. "That's good for him, that's great for his confidence and his psyche. That's all the hard work he's put in, it's paying off. And hopefully, the floodgates open for him." 

Freeman looked pretty good himself in his Spring Training debut on Tuesday, smashing a two-run double.

All eyes, though, will be on Stone and Dodgers fans hope that his progress continues on an upswing.

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