Latos, a right-hander who arrived from the Miami Marlins as part of a 13-player trade on July 30, has struggled in nearly all of his appearances since the trade.
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He appeared in six games (five starts), going 0-3 with a devilish ERA of 6.66 and a 1.52 WHIP. After the Dodgers bullpen had shut down the Rockies, allowing only one run over nine innings of relief, Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly had no other options but to insert Latos into the game for the top of the 16th inning. “By the time I do that, I’m already out of the game”.
Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw are arguably the top two pitchers in the league, and, as Short alluded to, the Dodgers can pitch them multiple times in a short playoff series instead of worrying about the back end of the rotation.
He had been bumped from the rotation by the man he essentially was acquired to replace, Mike Bolsinger, and his roster spot was taken by pitcher Carlos Frias, activated from the DL Thursday. He lowered his ERA from 6.12 to 4.48, and Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman decided it was worth taking a chance on Latos.
Frias had a 4.73 ERA in seven injury rehabilitation games with Class A Rancho Cucamonga and Triple-A Oklahoma City.
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Information from The Associated Press and ESPN Dodgers reporter Mark Saxon was used in this report.
