With rotation in flux, Dodgers aim to beat Cardinals again

The pitching challenges keep coming for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who put starter Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day injured list Friday due to elbow tendinitis.

He had been slated to pitch Saturday in the middle contest of a three-game road series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Instead, Bobby Miller (1-2, 8.07 ERA) will return from Triple-A Oklahoma City to handle the assignment.

Glasnow, who is 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA, joined starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Emmet Sheehan and River Ryan on Los Angeles' IL.

The Dodgers promoted rookie Justin Wrobleski to start the Friday game. He earned his first big league victory as Los Angeles edged the Cardinals 7-6 behind Kevin Kiermaier's four-RBI performance.

Initially Wrobleski's promotion was planned to give Glasnow an extra day of rest. Glasnow, who has a history of elbow injuries, experienced soreness and underwent testing.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Glasnow lobbied him to make the start after getting the test results, but the team didn't want to push it.

Roberts said he would have "been on pins and needles" watching Glasnow pitch, so the Dodgers shut him down for at least his next two starts.

The team foreshadowed the move by scratching Miller from his scheduled start for Oklahoma City on Thursday. "We wanted to hold Bobby back in case we need him," Roberts said.

Miller, who was sidelined by shoulder soreness earlier this season, is 0-1 with a 5.82 ERA in five Triple-A outings this season.

He defeated the Cardinals 6-3 on March 29, yielding just two hits in six shutout innings during his only career appearance against St. Louis. He struck out 11 and walked none.

While the Dodgers have won six of their past eight games, the Cardinals have lost five consecutive games to fall two games under .500 for the first time since June 12.

"I don't think the goal is ever to be .500 or anything about .500," Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said. "Our goal is to get into the playoffs, and that is what we'll continue to try to do."

St. Louis will start Andre Pallante (4-6, 4.21 ERA), who held the Kansas City Royals to two runs, one earned, on three hits in 5 2/3 innings during his latest outing on Aug. 10.

In four of his past seven starts, Pallante allowed one earned run or none. However, he also walked 14 batters during that span while striking out 29.

Pallante faced the Dodgers twice in relief in March and allowed a total of three runs on three hits in three innings. In his career, Pallante is 0-0 with a 5.06 ERA in four career appearances, all out of the bullpen, against Los Angeles.

The Cardinals are struggling as they start a sequence of 22 games against opponents with winning records. The Friday loss left St. Louis 10 games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and four games out of the last NL wild-card position.

"Some guys are on fumes, and some guys are feeling OK where they are," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said before the series began. "We're going to continue to take our best shot. Nothing changes. We've been here before."

--Field Level Media