The day after Walker Buehler pitched his longest rehab start to date for Triple-A Oklahoma City, the Dodgers cleared a spot for him in the major league starting rotation. Landon Knack was optioned to Triple-A one night after starting.
In the interim, the Dodgers will carry nine relief pitchers in the bullpen. Called up Wednesday was J.P. Feyereisen, who last pitched last Thursday for Oklahoma City, striking out four in 2⅔ innings and, most importantly, didn’t allow any runs while pitching on the moon in Albuquerque.
Feyereisen joins a bullpen going on day nine of a nine-day road trip with Joe Kelly unavailable after tweaking his groin on Tuesday night while pitching his third time in four games. Daniel Hudson pitched each of the first two games of this series at Chase Field, and Michael Grove threw 25 pitches Tuesday and has thrown 59 pitches over the last three days.
Knack did everything that was asked of him when he was called up two weeks ago, putting up a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings in his three starts, and lasted at least five innings in all three outings. But he has options and the Dodgers need a slot for Buehler.
Even if the team hasn’t officially said that Buehler will be back — presumably Monday vs. the Marlins at Dodger Stadium, which would be on five days rest and was Knack’s turn in the order — but sending Knack down is as clear a signal as possible that Buehler, who struck out five in five innings on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, will be back.
In between, the Dodgers will have a larger bullpen for four games, including this weekend at home against the Braves.
Feyereisen has pitched twice in the majors this season for the Dodgers, and allowed three runs in both games, recording a total of four outs. Since getting optioned to Triple-A on April 15, the right-hander allowed one run in 5⅔ innings in three appearances for Oklahoma City.