Dodgers defense ruins strong return by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in loss to Cubs

The Dodgers have gotten almost nothing but bad news on the pitching injury front this year.

On Tuesday, however, the storm clouds hovering over the staff might have finally — or at least partially — begun to clear.

It wasn’t just that Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight batters in a dazzling four-inning, one-run return from the injured list. Or that Tyler Glasnow took another step in his recovery from elbow tendinitis, throwing a bullpen session ahead of a scheduled simulated game later this week.

Rather, for the first time in months, the team might actually be able to do more than dream about what a potential postseason rotation could look like.

Now only if they could do something about their sloppy defense.

The Dodgers lost 6-3 to the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, with numerous defensive miscues (including three errors in a decisive five-run eighth inning) contributing to each of the Cubs’ tallies in their series-clinching win.

For a team that manager Dave Roberts hoped would be in “playoff mode” at this point — as they close in on another National League West division title, holding a 4 1/2-game lead at the end of play Tuesday — the maddening mental lapses in the field wasted what was otherwise an encouraging day for the team’s outlook on the mound.

With Yamamoto at last back, Glasnow looking increasingly likely to come back in time for the playoffs, and top trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty continuing to bounce back in a resurgent 2024 season, the Dodgers might wind up with three talented starters to rely on after all.

With less than three weeks to go in the regular season, the makings of an actual October rotation are coming into focus.

This all, of course, remains no guarantee.

Yamamoto and Glasnow still have many boxes to check before being sure-fire postseason weapons. Flaherty, who dealt with back problems with the Detroit Tigers earlier this season, still needs to get across the finish line healthy. The Dodgers could still benefit from the emergence of a clear No. 4 starter, too, currently evaluating Walker Buehler, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw (if he returns from his current toe injury) for such a role.

But if things keep trending this way, the Dodgers’ potential playoff pitching plans might not be as patchwork as the team once feared.

After missing almost three months with a strained rotator cuff in his right pitching shoulder, Yamamoto couldn’t have been more impressive in his long-awaited return.

The rookie Japanese right-hander struck out the side in the first inning, fanning Ian Happ with a curveball and Dansby Swanson with a splitter before getting a generous third-strike call on a 98-mph fastball to Seiya Suzuki.

He gave up his lone run in the second, giving up singles to Isaac Paredes (on a well-placed two-strike splitter) and Nico Hoerner (on a first-pitch fastball) before a high-hopper from Pete Crow-Armstrong got past Freddie Freeman at first.

From there, Yamamoto retired six of his last seven batters, striking out the side again in the third — Happ and Suzuki whiffed on splitters, while Swanson froze on a dotted bottom-corner fastball — and erasing a fourth-inning single with an inning-ending double play.

That was the end of the line for Yamamoto, who hadn’t thrown more than two innings in either of his minor-league rehab starts in recent weeks.

But the Dodgers are hoping it’s the start of a late-season surge from the 26-year-old, $325-million pitcher, who now has a 2.88 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 15starts in his debut campaign.

Glasnow, whose October status had been uncertain since going on the injured list with his elbow injury last month, also appears to be turning a corner.

The veteran right-hander and de facto staff ace threw his second bullpen in the last week Tuesday, impressing Roberts and other club executives in an extended session that included his entire pitch mix.

“It was good,” Roberts said. “I didn’t talk to him about it afterwards, but my eyes liked what I saw.”

Glasnow will next throw a two to three inning simulated game Friday during the team’s trip to Atlanta. If that goes well, he could be on track to return before the end of the regular season, an encouraging development for the team’s $136.5-million offseason acquisition, who was 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA before getting hurt.

“To get him in a major league game [before the end of the regular season] is a priority,” Roberts said.

During his pregame address with reporters, Roberts still exercised cautious optimism while discussing the state of the Dodgers pitching staff (which is still without Kershaw, who once again played catch Tuesday, and Gavin Stone, who remains shut down with shoulder inflammation).

“There’s, in theory, a hope part of this, but there’s also a realistic part of it,” Roberts said when asked how built-up Yamamoto and Glasnow could be by the time the playoffs begin.

“I think that we’re all comfortable in the sense that, whatever the buildup is, is what it is, and we’ve got to go from there. So obviously I’d love to say that six [innings] and 90 [pitches] would be great. How realistic that is for both those guys, time will tell.”

By the end of the night, the manager had more pressing frustrations with his team’s porous fielding.

After taking a 3-1 into the eighth — Tommy Edman hit two early home runs, his first long balls of the season, and Max Muncy went deep in the fifth — the Dodgers capitulated during the Cubs’ five-run rally.

Reliever Alex Vesia issued a leadoff walk. Throwing errors from Austin Barnes (who fired wide of first base on a swinging bunt) and Tommy Edman (who threw a ball from center that neither shortstop Miguel Rojas nor Muncy at third base corralled) led to the two tying runs. Then the go-ahead run scored when second baseman Kiké Hernández lost the ball while trying to tag a baserunner on a potential double play.

Those mistakes muted the good vibes that emanated the ballpark after Yamamoto’s impressive start. They served as a reminder of the fine-tuning left to take place in the season’s final stage.

Still, from where the team was just a few days ago, when Flaherty seemed like their only safe bet to anchor a potential postseason rotation, brighter days might finally be on the horizon for the Dodgers’ injury-plagued pitching staff.

It didn’t result in a victory Tuesday. But it could position them for a deep October push that once seemed in doubt.

Banda breaks hand

Reliever Brusdar Graterol returned a day early from his hamstring strain, but it wasn’t for the reason the Dodgers were hoping.

Shortly before first pitch, the team announced that key left-handed reliever Anthony Banda was on the injured list with a fractured left hand.

The cause and severity of the injury weren’t immediately clear.

Gonsolin starts rehab

In other positive pitching injury news, right-hander Tony Gonsolin began a rehab assignment with triple-A Oklahoma City, pitching two scoreless innings in his first game action since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.

Gonsolin remains unlikely to contribute to the major-league roster this year, Roberts said, barring a “crazy scenario.”

But by getting some rehab starts in before the end of this year, Gonsolin should be set up for a smoother return to the Dodgers rotation in 2025.

Teoscar’s return

The Dodgers lineup is expected to get a boost of its own Wednesday, with Teoscar Hernández scheduled to rejoin the batting order after missing the last four games with a foot contusion.

Hernández was available off the bench Tuesday, with Roberts joking pregame he “couldn’t convince the training staff” to green-light the slugger’s return to the lineup quite yet.