Left-hander Justin Wrobleski has a big chip on his shoulder as he prepares to take the ball for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tuesday night’s home game against the Colorado Rockies.
Wrobleski’s breakthrough campaign didn’t land him a National League All-Star spot when the rosters were announced on Saturday.
Wrobleski (10-2, 2.80 ERA) is tied for second in the majors in victories and has a stellar 1.01 WHIP.
“I mean, you want to be an All-Star, and I felt like I did enough to kind of put myself in that conversation, if not be there,” Wrobleski told reporters. “To not get the selection, yeah, it definitely adds some fuel to the fire for the rest of this year. Go out there every outing and prove that I’m worthy of that, and that I’m going to be one of those guys moving forward.”
Wrobleski will turn 26 on July 14, the day of the All-Star Game. He still could end up being in Philadelphia on the NL pitching staff as a replacement for someone who withdraws from the game.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he feels Wrobleski shouldn’t be a secondary option.
“To be a 10-game winner right now, to do what he’s done for us, he’s not only raising the floor, but also raising the ceiling,” Roberts said. “It’s pretty impressive. There’s more in there. He’s very prepared. Really good competitor.”
Wrobleski has won three straight starts and is 4-0 over his past six outings. He struck out a career-best 11 batters in a 9-3 victory over the Athletics on June 30, when he gave up three runs and seven hits over seven innings.
Wrobleski defeated the Rockies 12-3 in Denver on April 20 when he gave up one run and eight hits over seven innings. That’s his lone start against them, and he’s 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA in four career appearances against Colorado.
Willi Castro is 2-for-3 against Wrobleski, and Ezequiel Tovar is 2-for-6.
The Dodgers recorded a wild 8-7, 11-inning victory in Monday’s opener of the three-game series vs. the Rockies. Shohei Ohtani homered and drove in four runs. The blast was his 19th of the season and 299th of his career.
Dalton Rushing had three hits and scored twice and drove in the winning run with a single.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we pulled through it,” Rushing said. “Any Dodgers win is a good one. It was a long one.”
Colorado rallied from a 6-1 deficit and scored three runs in the ninth to force extra innings. Cole Carrigg delivered the tying two-run double and also had three hits and scored three times.
Carrigg, 24, is batting .309 with four homers and 21 RBIs after his first 25 major league games. He was a second-round pick in 2023 out of San Diego State.
“He’s proven over and over again that the moment is not too big for him,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said after Monday’s loss.
Colorado will turn to right-hander Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.91 ERA) in the middle contest of the series.
Lorenzen, 34, has experienced a rough season but has given up two runs or fewer in three of his past five outings. He received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins on Thursday in his last start when he gave up four runs and four hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked a season-worst six and struck out one in Colorado’s 14-4 victory.
Lorenzen wasn’t involved in the decision when he gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings against the Dodgers on April 19. Andy Pages (2-for-5) has a homer off Lorenzen, while Teoscar Hernandez is just 1-for-9.
–Field Level Media
