Dodgers receive good injury news before clear victory over Guardians

The Dodgers are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in baseball entering the final three weeks of the regular season, and that doesn't bode well for them with San Diego and Arizona breathing down their necks in the National League West.

“We feel like the Padres and Diamondbacks are behind us, but a little pressure is not a bad thing – I think that will help us get into the playoffs and do well there,” said shortstop Miguel Rojas. “But we want to secure a top-two spot. [in the league]So we can’t really take our foot off the gas at the moment.”

The Dodgers did take their foot off the gas a bit on Saturday night, but only after firing out of the starting blocks like a Top Fuel dragster, scoring six runs in the first inning en route to a 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in front of 48,690 spectators at Chavez Ravine.

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With San Diego's losses to San Francisco and Arizona's losses to Houston, the Dodgers (85-57) extended their lead in the division to five games over the Padres and 6½ games over the Diamondbacks with 20 games left to play.

“Any time we can put together a strong inning like that,” said right fielder Mookie Betts, “it's a good recipe for victory.”

Shohei Ohtani made the first and last outs of the first inning, but in between, the Dodgers overwhelmed Guardians starter Gavin Williams and reliever Pedro Avila for six runs and four hits, a comeback that was initiated by three consecutive one-out walks from Williams.

Tommy Edman hit a two-run ground-rule double to left, and a sacrifice fly to left by Gavin Lux made the game 3-0. Rojas hit an RBI single down the right field line for a 4-0 lead, and Andy Pages, filling in for the injured Teoscar Hernández, greeted Avila with a two-run homer 432 feet to center for a 6-0 lead.

The early outbreak eased the burden on a pitching staff so plagued by rotation injuries that the Dodgers used seven relievers – Ryan Brasier, Michael Grove, Justin Wrobleski, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Brent Honeywell – to cover nine innings on Saturday night.

“I don't want to put it entirely on the offense, because the guys we put out there still have to do their jobs as pitchers,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I know the offense knows what we've been through as a team. They can't take nights off or miss hitting time. If we need reinforcements or we need to fight to get back in the game and give it to the guys in the bullpen, that's what we've got to do.”

The Guardians cut the deficit to 6-2 in the second inning when Lane Thomas hit a two-run home run against Grove. Wrobleski threw two scoreless innings, escaping a two-on-one situation in the third inning and a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the fourth, and Betts extended the lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to left with two outs, his 16th of the season.

Betts has a .311 batting average (38 for 90) with six home runs, seven doubles, 23 RBIs and 23 runs scored in 24 games since returning on Aug. 12 from a fractured left hand that sidelined him for two months. The Dodgers are 16-8 in those games.

“Given the time off, it's hard to imagine him really hitting well right off the bat, but he's in playoff mode,” Roberts said of Betts. “He's got great at-bats. He's really come into right field and made another great play tonight. The guys are following his lead.”

Treinen escaped a tough one-out situation in the fifth inning and a second and third inning by striking out Daniel Schneemann with an 84-mph sweeper and Thomas with an 85-mph sweeper. Vesia (sixth), Kopech (seventh) and Honeywell (eighth and ninth) pitched clean innings for the Dodgers, who held the Guardians hitless in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“There were some good ones, some not so good ones, but we managed to make the throws when we needed to,” Roberts said. “It seemed like there were a lot of stressful innings and a lot of traffic tonight, but the guys made the throws when we needed to.”

The Dodgers got some good injury news before the game: Hernández said he would not go on the injured list after being hit in the left foot by a pitch Friday night, and ace Tyler Glasnow threw from the bullpen mound for the first time since going on the injured list in August with elbow tendonitis.

Roberts feared Hernández would have to be placed on the injured list after he was hit by an 81-mile-per-hour slider and had to leave the game in the first inning, but a postgame X-ray and a CT scan on Saturday showed no broken bones and the swelling went down.

“Very relieved,” Roberts said. “If it had been a fracture, it probably would have been the end of the season for him and it would have been a big loss.”

Hernández has a .266 batting average with 28 home runs and 87 RBIs, and his loss would have left a gaping hole in the middle of the lineup.

“Honestly, I thought it would be worse when I was hit – after a few hours the pain didn't go away,” Hernández said on Saturday. “But it's much better than it was [Friday] night. Nothing is broken and I may be back on the field Monday or Tuesday. … Thank God it was a slow pitch and not a fastball.”

Glasnow threw about 20 pitches, all fastballs, during a session that Roberts said “went really well.” On Tuesday, he'll throw more aggressively and mix in his secondary pitches. After that, he'll likely throw a simulated game of two or three innings, giving the right-hander time to make two abbreviated regular-season starts before the playoffs.

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“If you look at the calendar, there are very few opportunities, so we could be in a situation where it's three or four innings,” Roberts said. “You have to take what you can get at that point, if he's healthy, and just move on from there.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is scheduled to return from a rotator cuff strain Tuesday night, will also be limited in his first few starts after returning, which combined with Glasnow's short starts could force a loaded bullpen to throw more innings.

“It's going to be tough, but honestly it's nothing we haven't done all year,” Roberts said. “If that's the case, we'll figure it out.”

Short hops

Reliever Brusdar Graterol, who missed the first four months of the season with a shoulder injury and the last month with a hamstring strain, ended his two-game rehab period with Triple-A Oklahoma City with a scoreless inning on Friday. The right-hander will be used either Sunday or Monday, Roberts said.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.