LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers’ rotation will exchange one veteran pitcher for another with left-hander Blake Snell set to return from the injured list on Saturday as right-hander Tyler Glasnow was placed in the IL on Friday.
Snell had one more rehab start remaining with Class-A Ontario as he continued to cover from an ongoing bout with shoulder inflammation, but the Dodgers decided that those final five innings of work would be better spent in a start against the Atlanta Braves.
Manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers were trying “to figure out if (Snell was) open to taking the five innings here versus on rehab, and he couldn’t be more excited to do that.”
The move to get Snell back in the fold was made as right-hander Glasnow went on the IL before Friday night’s series opener against the Braves with lower back discomfort. Glasnow was removed from his start on Wednesday in Houston after one inning.
To take Glasnow’s spot on the active roster, the Dodgers recalled 6-foot-10 right-hander Paul Gervase from Triple-A Oklahoma City. An additional move will need to be made in order to get Snell on the roster on Saturday.
Glasnow underwent an MRI that did not show a serious injury.
Snell will move into the rotation turn occupied by right-hander Roki Sasaki, with Sasaki now pointed toward a start on Monday night against the San Francisco Giants. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski will make his scheduled start on Sunday afternoon against the Braves.
“I think it was just more of just giving Blake (Saturday’s start) because he was lined up to pitch,” Roberts said. “So then we just felt that having Wrobo go Sunday, (it was) kind of just looking out (for what) was best for everyone.”
Snell made just 11 regular-season starts for the Dodgers in 2025, the first season of a five-year, $182 million contract. He went 5-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 61⅓ innings as he missed most of April, May, June and July with shoulder discomfort.
Snell made six more appearances (five starts) in the postseason and went 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA. He recorded four outs in Game 7 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays before turning the ball over to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the ninth inning.
Sasaki is 1-3 with a 5.97 ERA through six starts, but did go a season-long six innings last Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals when he gave up three runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
MOOKIE MAGIC
Mookie Betts singled in his first at-bat and went 1 for 3 while playing five innings on Friday as he started a weekend rehab assignment with Triple-A OKC. Betts last played for the Dodgers on April 4 in Washington, when he left the game with an oblique injury.
Barring any setbacks, Betts could be back in the Dodgers’ lineup on Monday night for the opener of the four-game series against the Giants.
“I think (the goal) is taking six to seven at-bats, feel good with his timing, build up some endurance with playing defense, the running piece,” Roberts said. “And hopefully he gets tested where he doesn’t feel anything.”
Betts was 5 for 28 (.179) through eight games this season before his injury. He had two home runs with seven RBIs.
“I do think that once he gets back, we’re not going to run him out there every single day,” Roberts said. “There’ll probably be a couple of days that we kind of get him re-introduced to playing a lot.”
Whether or not he shares time at shortstop with Miguel Rojas or Hyeseong Kim is yet to be determined.
“Yeah, we’re gonna have some hard (roster) conversations, but fortunately, we don’t have to have those until he does come back,” Roberts said. “And as we’ve seen, things can change quickly. We’ll be prepared, though.”
SHUFFLE THE DECK
A new-look lineup had Will Smith batting second for the first time this season with Braves left-hander Chris Sale on the mound.
The batting order had more of a traditional left-right-left look with Shohei Ohtani, followed by Smith and Freddie Freeman, who was batting third for just the third time this season.
The left-handed hitting Kyle Tucker was batting sixth for the first time as a member of the Dodgers, while Max Muncy was batting eighth for the first time. Muncy had just 14 at-bats in the No. 8 spot last season.
“(Sale) is tough on everybody, but I just think that (the lineup) just makes it a little bit tougher to navigate,” Roberts said.
ALSO
Kiké Hernandez went 0 for 3 for Oklahoma City on Friday, batting second in front of Betts, while playing third base. It was Hernandez’s third rehab game with the Comets as he gets close to returning from left elbow surgery in the offseason. … Right-hander Ben Casparius (shoulder) and Evan Phillips (Tommy John recovery) both are recovering at the team’s spring training complex in Arizona.
UP NEXT
Braves (RHP Spencer Strider, 0-0, 8.10 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, season debut), Saturday, 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM, 1020 AM