The Los Angeles Dodgers will welcome an addition to the roster when they host the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the middle game of a three-game series.
Left-hander Eric Lauer will make his Dodgers debut when makes the start in his return to the major leagues.
Lauer, 30, was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this month and acquired in a trade for cash considerations on May 17.
The veteran’s eighth major league season has been rough. Lauer was 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) with Toronto. He gave up six runs, including three home runs, over five innings on May 10 in a 6-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels before he was removed from the roster.
But with both left-hander Blake Snell and right-hander Tyler Glasnow on the injured list, the Dodgers elected to take a gamble on Lauer, who is 2-6 with a 6.91 ERA in 13 career starts against the Rockies.
The Dodgers also are expected to be without third baseman Max Muncy for the fourth consecutive game. Muncy was hit on the right wrist by a pitch Friday at Milwaukee, and a decision about placement on the injured list has yet to be made.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said he believes an IL stint is avoidable, “but you have to understand that as we get to four days not playing, then the (retroactive IL move) kind of makes more sense.”
The Dodgers welcomed back utility man Enrique Hernandez for his season debut Monday after he had offseason elbow surgery. Hernandez had an RBI double among his two hits.
“We couldn’t finish the innings off, so it was a little bit of a letdown,” Roberts said after his team rallied for a 5-3 victory over Colorado in the series opener Monday. “I just don’t think our focus was where it needed to be early. But what we’ve done all year is, seventh, eighth and ninth innings we start kind of bearing down a little bit more.”
The Dodgers have won 10 of their past 12 games; the Rockies have lost six of their past seven.
The Rockies adjusted their rotation before the start of the series and moved left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-5, 7.04 ERA) to start Tuesday instead of Monday. Right-hander Tanner Gordon received his first start of the season Monday and delivered five strong innings, giving up one run and six hits.
Freeland is 5-12 with a 4.67 ERA in 26 career starts against the Dodgers and is 1-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 13 starts at Dodger Stadium. Freeland’s lone win in Los Angeles came in his major league debut on April 7, 2017, when he gave up one run over six innings in a 2-1 victory.
Since returning from the injured list (shoulder inflammation) on April 28, Freeland is 0-4 with a 10.32 ERA in five starts. He held the Texas Rangers to three runs over 4 2/3 innings of a no-decision in a 5-4 loss on Wednesday.
Colorado’s Ezequiel Tovar had two RBIs on Monday, including a home run that was his first in 187 plate appearances. It also ended the 38-inning scoreless streak from the Los Angeles bullpen — the franchise’s longest in the modern era (since 1901).
“(Tovar) was good, and he keeps progressing,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “People that watch every day, I hope they see how hard he is trying to make adjustments, and it’s paying off. He’s taking some good at-bats.”
Tovar is batting .217 after collecting two hits Monday.
Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield departed in the first inning Monday after he was hit in the back of the right hand by a pitch, but X-rays were negative.
–Field Level Media
