Dodgers suffer another casualty
Anderson has to leave start early because of an issue with his left Achilles’ tendon.
ATLANTA — Perhaps the baseball gods were punishing him for recently boasting about his health on Twitter.
That’s what Brett Anderson hoped as he stood in the clubhouse at Turner Field with his left foot in a walking boot Tuesday night after the Dodgers’ 4-3 defeat to the Atlanta Braves.
Whether the discomfort in his Achilles’ tendon is a “one-outing karma thing,” as Anderson wished, or something more serious will be revealed Wednesday in an MRI examination.
“Hopefully,” Anderson said, “I caught it before it was anything major.”
If he didn’t, the Dodgers could be in trouble, as they have already lost Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy to season-ending operations.
Considering Anderson had pitched fewer than 100 innings in each of his previous four seasons, his performance this year has been
something of a minor miracle.
Not only has he not failed to make a start, he has pitched rather well, becoming the kind of pitcher Manager Don Mattingly could count on for six or seven innings every five days.
If some of Anderson’s recent injuries were fluky — he once broke a finger while hitting a baseball — this one was mysterious.
Anderson said he felt something in his Achilles’ tendon as he pursued a weak chopper by Jonny Gomes in the third inning. There was no pop, but Anderson could tell something was wrong. Only 22⁄3 innings into the game, he had to leave with the Dodgers trailing, 3-2.
Anderson said he first experienced discomfort in the area when fielding a grounder by Andrelton Simmons in the first inning.
Although a postgame examination determined that the tendon wasn’t torn, the severity of the injury remained unknown.
“It’s one of the few parts of my body I haven’t hurt before, so I don’t really know if there was anything major,” Anderson said.
The Dodgers already have to find a new starting pitcher for their Saturday road game against the New York Mets. Now, with Anderson potentially down, they might have to find another for Sunday.
“Pretty concerned with the state of the rotation at this point,” Mattingly said.
This scenario didn’t come entirely as a surprise, as the team’s front office has displayed a curious fetish for pitchers with histories of health problems.
Ryu experienced shoulder problems in recent seasons, but rather than hedge their bets by pursuing relatively low-risk pitchers over the off-season, the Dodgers signed McCarthy and Anderson.
McCarthy, who had pitched 200 innings in a season only once in his career, was signed to a four-year, $48-million contract. Anderson received a one-year, $10-million contract.
The Dodgers have learned Brandon Beachy won’t be the solution to their problems, at least not in the near future.
Beachy was another reclamation project, as he was in the process of recovering from his second reconstructive elbow operation when the Dodgers signed him in the spring.
The right-hander recently made his first two starts in nearly two years, the latest on Monday in the series opener against the Braves. He lasted only four innings in each of his two starts, which is why the Dodgers sent him to triple-A Oklahoma City to create a place on the active roster for outfielder Carl Crawford.
“I think it’s about what’s best for him,” Mattingly said. “He’s shown he’s healthy. Now, he just needs more time to compete.”
The pitcher Beachy replaced in the rotation, Carlos Frias, remains on the disabled list because of lower-back problems.
Frias touched 96 mph in a bullpen session Monday, but Mattingly sounded as if he was disinclined to activate Frias for the weekend.
“We can’t rush him back,” Mattingly said, noting the bullpen session was Frias’ first since he was put on the disabled list July 1.
A more immediate concern might be the bullpen.
With Beachy and Anderson pitching a combined 62⁄3 innings in the first two games of the series at Turner Field, Dodgers relievers have pitched 91⁄3 innings over the last two days.
The relievers figure to get more work in the series finale Wednesday, as Mike Bolsinger will start for the Dodgers. In his last seven starts, Bolsinger has pitched fewer than six innings six times and fewer than five innings four times.
Up next
Bolsinger (4-3, 3.04 ERA) will face the Braves and Julio Teheran (6-4, 4.53) on Wednesday at 9 a.m. PDT at Turner Field. TV: SportsNet LA; Radio: 570, 1020.