TORONTO — Starting pitchers have been going down with injuries all around the majors in such alarming numbers that veteran Justin Verlander called it a “pandemic.”
Then there’s Tyler Glasnow – been there, done that.
The Dodgers traded for Glasnow and signed him to a rich contract extension for that reason, believing Glasnow was entering a new phase in his career in which good health would allow him to fully embrace the ace-like tendencies they saw in his past.
In the depleted field of elite starting pitchers, Glasnow is looking like an early Cy Young candidate after taking a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning of a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.
Glasnow did leave the mound in the seventh inning accompanied by a trainer, but the Dodgers said the move was due to cramping.
Through seven starts with the Dodgers, Glasnow is 5-1 with a 2.72 ERA, 53 strikeouts and just 29 hits allowed in 43 innings. He finished the day leading the majors in innings and strikeouts.
His efforts Saturday helped secure the Dodgers’ sixth consecutive win – five in a row to start this nine-game road trip. The Dodgers have outscored the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and Blue Jays 43-8 during the streak.
Glasnow navigated some trouble in the second inning when a walk and a catcher’s interference call put two runners on with two outs. But he didn’t give up his first hit of the game until the third inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a two-out double to center field. Nothing came of that or a two-out walk in the fourth inning.
Glasnow retired the next seven batters in order after that walk, but walked Danny Jansen to start the seventh inning and gave up an RBI double to Davis Schneider on his 95th pitch of the game. Dave Roberts and a Dodgers trainer went to the mound to check on Glasnow after that and the right-hander came out of the game in favor of Joe Kelly, who had already been warming up.
Glasnow was pitching with a lead from the moment he took the mound. Mookie Betts led off the game with a triple, the first of his three hits in the game, racing around to third when Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho made an ill-advised diving attempt to catch his line drive. Freddie Freeman drove Betts in with a sacrifice fly.
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A barrage of hard contact awaited Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi in the second inning – including a 119.2 mph RBI single by Shohei Ohtani, the newest, hardest-hit ball in the major leagues (topping Ohtani’s 118.7 mph home run in Washington earlier this week). Four hits produced two runs.
The Dodgers hit 10 balls with exit velocities of 100 mph or higher off the left-hander, but Kikuchi survived six innings, giving up just one more run on an RBI single by Betts in the fourth inning.
A two-out error by Evan Phillips led to another Blue Jays run in the ninth inning before Phillips closed it out.
