What was once a breakout rookie season for Gavin Stone is starting to break down in ominous fashion.
The once-burgeoning right-hander is no longer collecting strikeouts like he once did. He’s no longer limiting contact as he was earlier this season. And, after once appearing a safe bet to make starts come the postseason, he’s no longer looking like a reliable member of the Dodgers’ unsettled rotation, either.
In a 6-5 defeat to the lowly Oakland A’s on Friday, Stone gave up five runs in four-plus innings, failing to hold an early two-run lead in the Dodgers’ sixth loss in their last eight games.
After three stress-free innings to begin his night at Oakland Coliseum, Stone served up a pair of solo home runs in the fourth to Shea Langeliers and Seth Brown. Then, in the fifth, Stone failed to record an out, issuing a leadoff walk before yielding run-scoring extra-base hits down the first base line to Miguel Andujar and JJ Bleday that ended his night.
The runner he left behind scored, as well, after reliever Joe Kelly surrendered a two-run homer to his first batter, Brent Rooker.
For a Dodgers team looking for answers across the roster right now, Stone’s struggles have instead become yet another confounding question.
Five weeks ago, Stone’s season peaked with a shutout against the Chicago White Sox, one that lowered his ERA to 2.73 and had him rocketing up leaderboards for National League Rookie of the Year.
Since then, however, some of the problems that plagued Stone’s short-lived debut in 2023 (when he had a 9.00 ERA in eight outings) have started to resurface.
In his last five outings, the pitch-to-contact right-hander has failed to minimize damage, yielding 39 hits and seven home runs. His ability to induce swing-and-miss has disappeared, with just 17 strikeouts in his last 22 ⅔ innings. Most importantly, he has been charged with four or more runs in four of those last five starts, giving him a 7.15 ERA in that span and a 3.63 ERA overall this year.
There hasn’t been an obvious decline in Stone’s stuff (on Friday, his fastball was actually up a tick at 95.6 mph). There hasn’t been a noticeable change in pitch usage, either, other than Stone throwing more sinkers than four-seamers over the last month.
Yet, the 25-year-old simply isn’t getting outs as efficiently as he did earlier this season.
The Dodgers can only hope it doesn’t mean their Cinderella story is becoming a late-season pumpkin.
Stone’s struggles are among many issues currently plaguing the Dodgers, who now have two teams — the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks — just 4 ½ games behind them in the NL West standings.
The lineup still has Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor and the newly acquired Tommy Edman on the injured list — though everyone but Taylor is scheduled to play in a simulated game next week.
Freddie Freeman also remains away from the team on the family emergency list. Roberts said Friday he does not expect Freeman to rejoin the club this weekend, but noted that the first baseman has been staying active and swinging a bat since leaving the team last week.
Even the Dodgers’ healthy players, however, have gone missing.
Shohei Ohtani is hitless in his last 15 at-bats, including an inning-ending ground out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Friday. Will Smith is two for his last 29, and is batting just .176 since June 13. And while other deadline acquisitions Kevin Kiermaier and Amed Rosario were activated Friday, the bottom of the lineup remains woefully thin. On Friday, each of the Dodgers’ Nos. 4-8 hitters entered the game batting .206 or worse this season.
Still, the offense’s current slump — which should be somewhat rectified once Betts and Freeman are back with the team — has been overshadowed by the Dodgers’ bigger-picture pitching uncertainties.
Tyler Glasnow hasn’t looked quite like himself since returning from a back injury. Clayton Kershaw was roughed up for seven runs on Wednesday night in San Diego. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still out with a shoulder injury.
The Dodgers are optimistic that deadline centerpiece Jack Flaherty will provide a boost, starting with his team debut Saturday.
But Stone’s drop-off has undercut any further stability from the starting rotation — one that has the second-worst ERA (5.88) and fewest total innings (127) in the majors since Stone’s shutout on June 26.
Injury updates
Of all the players scheduled to participate in next week’s simulated game, which will take place Thursday, Muncy’s inclusion was the biggest surprise.
After missing the last two and a half months with a strained oblique, the slugger finally turned a corner in his recovery last week. The fact he will soon face live pitching again represents another “big step” in his rehab, Roberts said, though his timeline to rejoin the team remains unclear.
Roberts also said that Edman — the trade deadline addition who has yet to play in the majors this year because of his ankle sprain and an offseason wrist surgery — will go out on a minor-league rehab assignment after the simulated game. He will begin playing the field again for the first time this year.
On the mound, Walker Buehler (who gave up four runs in less than four innings Thursday night with triple-A Oklahoma City) is expected to make one more rehab outing next week, then rejoin the Dodgers rotation after that.
Miller scratched in AAA
Pitcher Bobby Miller was scratched from his scheduled start on Friday with triple-A Oklahoma City after experiencing adductor tightness in a bullpen session this week.
The team made the decision to be “overly cautious,” according one person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Roberts was unsure when Miller, who missed two months earlier this year with a shoulder injury before being demoted to triple-A before the All-Star break, would pitch again.