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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — Alex Vesia, one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most important and frequently used relief pitchers, landed on the injured list with an oblique strain Tuesday. Vesia felt tightness in his right side while playing catch in San Diego over the weekend and said he wanted to “speak up now rather than try to overdo it and jeopardize later down the line.”
He expects to return right around when he’s first eligible to on Sept. 7.
“It just felt tight,” Vesia said after the Dodgers’ 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. “There was no pull or grab or anything that would make me concerned.”
Vesia has made 59 appearances this season, second most on the Dodgers, and has put up only a 2.75 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP in 52⅓ innings, striking out 69 batters and issuing 18 walks. His placement on the IL comes at a time when the Dodgers’ bullpen is finally starting to get healthy, with Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott returning in recent days and Michael Kopech also expected back in the near future.
Vesia, 29, suffered a right oblique strain that forced him out of last year’s National League Championship Series, though he returned for the World Series. This one, Vesia said, is “much less” severe.
“I don’t think it should be too long,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s been obviously a leverage guy for us the last few years, so we’ve got to make sure we get him right for the stretch run.”