Two national league teams that have already suffered injuries to their starting rotations received more bad news this weekend. Kyle Lohse of the Milwaukee Brewers and Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to miss time.
On Wednesday during his start against the Chicago Cubs, Kyle Lohse aggravated his right ankle while batting. He first suffered the injury on August 2 during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals when he rolled it while going after a ball, but he was able to effectively pitch against the Dodgers six days later (6 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER) in a no decision 9-3 victory. But now Brewers manager Ron Roenicke doesn't want to take any chances with Matt Garza already set to miss an extended period of time.
Lohse has received treatment for his injury, but Roenicke said he will miss his next start on Tuesday and be replaced by Mike Fiers, who already took Matt Garza's spot in the rotation when he hit the 15-day DL on August 5. Garza's strained left oblique has the team believing he's going to miss longer than the allotted 15 days because he has yet to throw since suffering the injury. With two starters out and Ryan Braun dealing with a nagging thumb injury, the Brewers will need to adjust to stay atop the NL Central.
The Dodgers, already dealing with injuries to Josh Beckett (placed on the DL last week) and largely shaky performances from Dan Haren over the past month (29 ER in 7 starts with a 2-5 record), have announced starter Hyun-Jin Ryu will land on the 15-day DL because of strained muscles in his right buttocks. Ryu suffered the injury in a start Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves. He was pulled after 5 2/3 innings of work. The Dodgers lost the game 3-2.
"We feel good about this in the sense that it's not an elbow or a knee. It's a muscle strain, and it's going to heal," said Mattingly, seemingly exuding confidence in his remaining pitchers, in this ESPN article. "As long as those guys keep pitching well, you don't really think about it too much." But Ryu's 13-6 record and 3.28 ERA will be missed over the next two weeks.
The Dodgers will replace Ryu with Kevin Correia who has been in the rotation after being acquired from the Minnesota Twins when Beckett hit the DL. In his first start with the team he pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Atlanta Braves on Monday and got the victory. With the Brewers turning to Mike Fiers as well, these two teams are heading into late August with replacements in their starting rotation.
