LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have treated the final two spots in their pitching rotation, each of which was vacated by an injury, as open tryouts.
Carlos Frias was the last of four pitchers to audition and his was the most impressive yet. Frias went 5 1/3 scoreless innings, backed by some explosive early offense, in the Dodgers’ 8-0 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday night.
What’s next for Frias? Hard to say, but Saturday couldn’t have hurt his chances of sticking around for a while.
“Obviously, if you pitch well, your chances are better of getting the ball again,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said before the game. “It’s not that complicated.”
How it happened: Joc Pederson came to the plate accompanied by music from a different boy band for each of his at-bats Friday night. Not the most menacing look for the Dodgers’ center fielder. But his swing is certainly getting the league’s attention. Pederson hit a second-inning grand slam off ex-Dodger Rubby De La Rosa that sailed roughly 20 rows up into the right-center field pavilion. That was about all the action the Dodgers needed in the batter’s box, because Frias was outstanding. Frias allowed just four hits and a walk and needed just 70 pitches to get into the sixth inning. The Dodgers’ young bullpen, particularly hard thrower Pedro Baez, continued to distinguish itself. Baez pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out Nick Ahmed on a 99-mph fastball in the seventh inning.
What it means: The Dodgers continue to pummel balls at Dodger Stadium and Frias gave a nice little boost to a back of the rotation ravaged by injuries.
Notable: The Dodgers have now hit 19 home runs in 13 games at home. ... Pederson also drew a seventh-inning walk. Only one major-league hitter, Bryce Harper, has walked more times than Pederson’s 19 this season. ... Andre Ethier hit a long home run to right field in the sixth inning, his fourth home run of the season. Ethier hit four home runs all last season, in more than six times as many at-bats.
Up next: The series continues Saturday evening, with Scott Baker (0-1, 3.86 ERA) getting his second start for the Dodgers and Jeremy Hellickson (1-3, 5.24 ERA) going for the Diamondbacks. The game begins at 6:10 p.m.