Twenty months after he last pitched in a major league game, Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin essentially will pick up right where he left off.
Gonsolin will face the visiting Miami Marlins on Wednesday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series after completing a long recovery from Tommy John surgery. The former All-Star was pitching against the Marlins on Aug. 18, 2023, when he departed following a rough 3 1/3 innings. He was later diagnosed with an elbow injury that ultimately led to the operation.
While extending a four-game winning streak would seem to be the team’s goal Wednesday, the Dodgers merely are hoping Gonsolin can show he is healthy again and capable of building up to longer starts as soon as possible.
The Dodgers lead the majors in innings pitched by relievers, and they just took down the Marlins with a bullpen game, winning 15-2 on Tuesday. Left-hander Jack Dreyer contributed two innings at the outset, and Matt Sauer fired five innings of one-run ball to earn his first major league win after he was called up from the minors earlier in the day.
With starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw on the injured list, and the remaining rotation members turning in a few ineffective outings, the bullpen has dealt with a heavy workload.
“We thought our starters would be a position of strength for us from a workload standpoint, and unfortunately we lead all of baseball in innings for relievers,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “Sometimes that’s a good thing, but this early in the year, it’s probably not a good thing.”
Gonsolin has made two career starts against the Marlins, going 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA. He gave up 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings versus Miami in his final start of 2023.
The Marlins will counter with right-hander Cal Quantrill (2-2, 7.83 ERA), who has given up 11 combined runs in 9 1/3 innings over his past two starts. However, he earned a road win on Friday against the Seattle Mariners when he gave up four runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Quantrill’s history against the Dodgers has been less than optimal: 1-6 with an 8.05 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts).
He doesn’t figure to get a break, as Los Angeles is finding some offensive consistency of late. Since getting shut out by Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, the Dodgers have scored at least seven runs in each contest during their four-game winning streak, amassing 39 runs in all.
The Marlins hope their offense will see a bounce-back effort from rookie catcher Agustin Ramirez. After going 9-for-19 (.474) with three home runs in the initial five games of his major league career last week, Ramirez has gone 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series against the Dodgers.
“You’re never sure how a young hitter is going to handle the first time being up here,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said of Ramirez, who has struck out just three times in 27 at-bats. “I’ve been as impressed with the quality of the contact as what he’s swinging at.”
–Field Level Media
