Although the Dodgers’ offense has been on a tear all season, the bullpen has fallen victim to the injured list a little too many times now.
One by one relievers such as Victor Gonzalez, Tommy Kahnle, Brusador Graterol, and Yency Almonte have all taken residence on the IL forcing a surprising hero to rise up in their place.
On Friday night, Hanser Alberto, who had started the game at shortstop, took the mound for his seventh time this season. Now normally when the Dominican is called out to the field, it’s for second base but every now and then, especially lately, Roberts has snuck him in to throw an inning.
That night LA fell to the Mets making it their third loss in a row.
Alberto allowed 2 balls and one hit but no runs scored through the inning so I guess he got the job done.
He posted a 3.86 ERA, allowing 3 walks, 3 errors, 8 hits and a 1.57 WHIP. For being a relief pitcher on the side as he primarily plays infield, those aren’t bad stats. But the fact that the Dodgers have used him this many times and it’s just the beginning of September is a little concerning.
Aside from turning to Alberto every one and a while, the Dodgers got right handed Blake Treinen back recently to help out in those late innings as he joins LA’s closer Craig Kimbrel (who has been showing some hopeful signs of improvement).
The rest of the bullpen includes southpaws Vesia and Price and rightys Price, Ferguson, Phillips, Martin, and Bickford.
Despite hitting a little rough patch to start the month out, the Dodgers have put the rest of the league behind them with a 17 game advantage over the Padres. But will the arms that the Dodgers have left make it through the rest of the fall until the postseason? I guess we’ll find out.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
NEXT: Dave Roberts Talks Status of Bullpen, Kimbrel’s Job Security