The Dodgers announced that starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin underwent season-ending elbow surgery on Tuesday — and that wasn’t even the most troubling injury update of the day.
Instead, in what manager Dave Roberts described as the latest “big blow” to the club’s reeling bullpen, right-hander Brock Stewart was placed on the injured list with what Roberts said was shoulder inflammation.
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The Dodgers are hopeful that they caught Stewart’s injury early. Both Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman expressed confidence he would be back for the stretch run of the season.
Still, Stewart was acquired at the trade deadline less than two weeks ago in order to bolster a struggling relief corps already missing Michael Kopech, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Brusdar Graterol. Now, just four outings into his return to the organization, Stewart represents yet another question mark for a team that has been short on answers amid a recent 12-20 skid after Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to the Angels.
“Obviously, he’s a big part of what we’re trying to do,” Roberts said. “So to not have him available hurts.”
According to Roberts, Stewart had been dealing with shoulder soreness over the last four days, coinciding with his most recent outing last Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
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Stewart is scheduled to be more thoroughly examined Wednesday, but Friedman noted that initial manual testing on his shoulder was encouraging.
“Sounds like we caught it at the very front end,” Friedman said. “So from our standpoint, we felt like, let’s be smart here, take him off line. We’re optimistic that he’ll be back.”
Hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez was called up in Stewart’s place.
Stewart, who began his career as a starting pitcher with the Dodgers from 2016-2019 before reinventing himself as a hard-throwing reliever with the Minnesota Twins over the last three years, represented the Dodgers’ only bullpen upgrade at the deadline.
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At the time, the lack of further action felt like a risk for a club that ranks 21st in the majors in reliever ERA this season (4.23).
But in Stewart, who was acquired at a relatively low cost, with only outfielder James Outman going back to Minnesota in return, the Dodgers’ hoped they’d not only found a right-handed replacement for Evan Phillips, who is out for the season…