The Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night. The 7-3 loss can be attributed to a couple blunders by starting pitcher Gavin Stone and lengthy reliever Michael Grove. On Tuesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put his faith in two of his younger pitchers, but it did not pan out.
Stone allowed four earned runs over six innings, while Grove allowed three more in one inning. Stone, 25, had been on a roll lately, having a 2.00 ERA over his last 36 innings. Grove, 27, had one of his greatest stints as a pitcher, with a 2.16 ERA over his last 16.2 innings out of the bullpen.
“I think for Gavin in particular, to be able to not have your best stuff per se, and to still give your ballclub a chance to win and go deeper in a game, I think is very valuable,” Roberts said. “So I think that’s something he’s already learning. And I wanted to hold his head high after tonight.
“And as far as Michael, it’s a situation where we just can’t walk that lead-off guy. We’re still in that ball game, and then that brings Joc to the plate. Left a slider out over and he does what he does to right-handed pitchers. And so Michael has been on a good run, so hopefully he can learn from it, but continue to build on that momentum he’s had.”
Stone and Grove have more than proven that they can pitch well at the Major League level. There is a reason both were highly regarded prospects in the organization as recently as last year.
While Tuesday was a bump in the road for the pair, Roberts has clearly already spun that into a positive as both pitchers prepare for their next outing.
Mistake pitches are bound to happen, but the truly great pitchers know how to bounce back quickly, and the Dodgers hope the two will be able to rebound successfully.
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