the evaders pitching staff could have taken another big hit on Friday-evening.
In the team’s eighth inning 4-1 win above the Atlanta Braves, savior Daniel Hudson suffered a potential season-end anterior cruciate ligament injury, manager Dave Roberts said, after his left knee collapsed as he moved to field a ground ball for the mound.
While the team won’t have an official diagnosis until Hudson gets scans on his knee later this weekend, Roberts said the first indication from a manual exam is that the ligament has been torn, effectively ending his season.
“It doesn’t look good from all indications,” Roberts said. “Things can happen, but I just don’t see how it’s not the end of his season. So it’s potentially a huge loss for us.”
Hudson had been one of the Dodgers’ most reliable relievers, going in on Friday with a 2.25 ERA.
“Not having him with us is an exponential effect on our ball club,” Roberts said. “But we have to move forward.”
Roberts said after the game that he spoke briefly with Hudson, who appeared to be in a lot of pain on the pitch and needed assistance back to the clubhouse.
“I tried to comfort him a little,” Roberts said. †[He was] clearly emotional. So, you know, it wasn’t really a conversation.”
Hudson, 35, signed with the Dodgers during the off-season and had served as their de facto setup man, providing stability to a bullpen already missing Blake Trains and Tommy Kahnle from long-term injuries, has received inconsistent performances from closer Craig Kimbrel and relies on more inexperienced pitchers.
Roberts said it was too early to know how the Dodgers would handle setup situations in Hudson’s absence.
“We have some good candidates,” he said. “But guys are getting some chances to fill that void.”
Heaney returns to IL
The Dodgers announced more bad news for their pitching staff before Friday’s game, putting Andrew Heaney on the injured list due to a recurrence of a left shoulder injury.
After Heaney missed two months due to left shoulder inflammation, Roberts said the southpaw suffered a shoulder injury after a bullpen session Thursday. Heaney will not be allowed to throw for a few days, according to Roberts, but the team is hopeful that he will not be absent for a long time again.
“I don’t foresee it going to be long,” Roberts said, adding that Heaney might only miss a few starts.
Roberts said: Mitch White starts Saturday instead of Heaney. redeemer Reyes Moronta was recalled Friday in a corresponding roster move.
Heaney was a free agent last winter and has only made three starts for the Dodgers. He started the season with consecutive goalless outings before going to the IL for the first time in mid-April.
He returned to the mound on Sunday against the Cleveland Guardians and gave up two runs, one of which was earned, in a five-inning, 77-pitch start, taking a no-decision in the loss to the Dodgers.
During his bullpen session Thursday, however, Heaney felt “some pain, soreness in his shoulder,” Roberts said, adding that while the strain is the same injury that hindered the pitcher earlier this season, the team doesn’t believe this flare-up. is equally serious.
“It’s a little worrisome, a little frustrating, more for Andrew because he’s done a lot to get back to that point,” Roberts said. “But it’s where we are. So it’s now our job and his job to do everything we can to get him back on the hill as soon as possible.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times†