Tyler Glasnow surrenders four runs to Nationals

A rare lower-stress victory for the Dodgers, who had just gone 1-4 while playing five one-run games in a row. Glasnow had a bad first inning in his return from the IL last Tuesday against the Braves, but he’s been excellent in 11 innings since. Both hits he gave up today were singles, and he finished up with a 34 percent CSW while striking out six. He’ll take on the Nationals next time out.

It sounds highly unlikely that Ohtani will make his return to Los Angeles’ rotation this weekend based on Roberts adding that the two-way superstar isn’t feeling 100 percent physically due to ongoing left knee and right biceps issues. The club is expected to make a final decision following Saturday afternoon’s contest in Detroit. Regardless, it’ll be Tyler Glasnow doing the heavy lifting on Sunday. The general expectation remains that Ohtani will return to the Dodgers’ rotation in the near future, but it doesn’t sound imminent after Friday’s abbreviated bullpen session didn’t go exactly as anticipated. Simply put, the franchise can’t really afford to take any chances with the postseason right around the corner. There should be additional clarity on his status in the coming days.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Ohtani is trending towards starting against the Tigers on Sunday. There should be a definitive update on his status leading into the weekend but all signs point to the generational talent making his first start for Los Angeles since early July. It sounds like there’s a possibility that Ohtani piggybacks with Tyler Glasnow in some capacity for workload reasons this weekend.

All of the runs came in the first, and he actually should have given up one more, but a wild pitch that would have scored Michael Harris II was wrongly called a foul ball. After that, though, Glasnow was terrific. He allowed just two singles and walked none over his final four innings, and his stuff was excellent throughout. There’s no guarantee he’ll remain healthy in September, but if he does, he could be a top 20 SP for the month.

After 3 1/2 months away, Glasnow will make his return from his back issues tonight against the Braves.

With Tyler Glasnow back and Shohei Ohtani nearing a return as well, there simply isn’t room to keep the 31-year-old southpaw in the club’s six-man rotation. He’ll be available out of the bullpen beginning on Tuesday.

It’ll be Glasnow’s first MLB start since May 6 after 3 1/2 months off with back problems. He won’t be on a specific pitch count after throwing 77 pitches in his last rehab start, and it should be safe to start him in mixed leagues.

Next stop: Los Angeles. Glasnow delivered a dominant performance in his likely final rehab outing, carrying a shutout into the sixth inning while throwing 54 of 77 pitches for strikes. He averaged 95.5 mph on his four-seam fastball and generated 12 swinging strikes. The 32-year-old has been out with a lingering back issue since early May. He’s in line to take the ball against Atlanta next week.

Glasnow, returning from a back problem, was dominant in striking out eight in the 67-pitch outing last night, but it won’t get him brought back early. The hope is to get him up to five innings next time out. He could then return to face the Braves on Aug. 26 or 27.

Glasnow will have a rehab start on Friday and another after that, likely on next Wednesday, before being a candidate to come off the injured list. That would put him on track to start in the big leagues during the last week of August against the Braves or Tigers. Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer are candidates to move to the bullpen when Glasnow returns.