dpJustin Wrobleski takes the mound on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium, just the second time this season a Dodgers pitcher has started on four days rest.
The left-hander is coming off a start last Thursday of 4 2/3 innings in Pittsburgh, an early exit spurred by both a four-run fifth inning and taking a comebacker off his right hamstring during the frame. It marked the first time in 11 starts this season Wrobleski has failed to complete five innings.
Wrobleski is second on the Dodgers with 73 1/3 innings, and in his starts has averaged 6.3 innings. His four starts of at least seven innings is second on the team, behind only Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Wrobleski has completed at least six innings eight times in 11 starts.
Going deep has been a hallmark of the Dodgers’ six-man rotation this season, averaging an MLB-best 5.75 innings in their real starts (excluding the bullpen game on May 15 in Anaheim), with a sparkling 3.13 ERA.
Eric Lauer allowed a two-run home run in the first inning and another run in the second in Monday’s series opener, but remained in the game to complete six innings with nothing else on the board. I likened this to a classic Randy Wolf start, allowing early runs but still managing to deliver a quality start. I thought this might be more apocryphal than real, though Wolf in 2009 with the Dodgers did have three different starts in which he allowed three runs in the first two innings but finished at least six innings with no other runs allowed, so my memory hasn’t completely left me just yet.
Lauer has two qualify starts in his four starts with the Dodgers, and the team leads the majors with 41 quality starts this season, seven more than any other MLB team. The Dodgers had 52 quality starts all of last regular season, but had 10 in the postseason, the most by any team since the 2013 Detroit Tigers.
Wrobleski has seven quality starts this season, and the Dodgers have won six of those games. As a team the Dodgers are 29-12 (.707) in games they get a quality start. MLB as a whole this season is 486-208 (.700) in such games.
It stands to reason teams are successful in such games. Starters pitching deeper means less wear and tear on the bullpen, and more rested relievers are likely to be more effective. That’s the kind of symbiotic relationship that can build a winning streak, or perhaps spur a losing streak.
The Dodgers haven’t had a losing streak for over a month now, not since losing four straight from May 9-12. But they haven’t had any kind of streak for a week and a half. They’ve alternated wins and losses for their last nine games, and haven’t posted consecutive wins since June 5-6 against the Angels.
