Dodgers Interview: Glasnow on grinding through start
"It was kind of rough all game."
SAN FRANCISCO — Tyler Glasnow didn’t pretend this was one of those nights when everything clicks. He called it what it was: a grind. And yet, the Dodgers’ ace turned that grind into precisely what his team needed against the Giants—6.2 innings, one earned run on three hits, four walks, and four strikeouts—good enough for the win and, just as important, a lighter workload for a bullpen that’s carried plenty lately.
“Not much feel for kind of anything early on—and kind of the whole game, to be honest,” Glasnow admitted. “I think it got better later though, kind of just working with Ben back there and started to find my slider a little bit.” That partnership with catcher Ben Rortvedt threaded the needle through some shaky early timing. The right-hander issued four walks in the first few frames but kept the damage to a minimum, leaning on weak contact while he searched for rhythm.
Glasnow didn’t sugarcoat how off his internal clock felt. “This is probably one of the—timing-wise—the worst I’ve felt probably all year,” he said. “It was just trying to go out there and compete, and it ended up working out.” That word—compete—surfaced again and again. Since returning from the IL, he explained, he’s gotten better at putting the noise aside and pouring whatever he has on a given night into the zone: “It’s easier to kind of put it out of my mind and just go compete, and if my stuff sucks, it’s whatever. As long as I can kind of get into the zone and get some weak contact, it’s helpful.”
The path from “not much feel” to 6.2 sturdy innings came down to in-game adjustments and conviction. Glasnow didn’t arrive with a single, set script; he wrote it as he went. “It’s just kind of whatever works in the moment—like as far as scouting report or whatever that is,” he said. “What feels good in that inning, just throwing it with conviction.” On this night, that meant reshuffling his pitch mix. “More sinkers today,” he noted. “Four-seam wasn’t really working. And then as the game went on, I kind of leaned on the slider a little bit more.” When the curveball shows up early, he said, he’ll ride it. If not, he’ll pivot. The constant is belief in the next pitch.
If hitters talk about entering “the zone,” Glasnow was clear: not tonight. “I would not say today I was in the zone,” he said with a laugh. But recent starts have trended that way. “When things are going well…when you’re able to go out there and get into a rhythm for sure,” he explained. “I think today was a little rougher, but I think the last few I’ve kind of felt like that. Maybe not today, but the last few.” That he could still manufacture a quality outing without his best feel is, in its own way, the marker of an ace. The results didn’t rely on wipeout stuff; they relied on stubbornness, sequencing, and enough late-breaking sliders to keep San Francisco squarely off the barrel.
The offense helped, too, offering room to breathe as the game unfolded. “It’s definitely a little bit more breathing room,” Glasnow said of pitching with a lead. “Especially just coming out and having a good chance of a win always makes it less crazy, I guess. But I think timing-wise it was kind of rough all game. I’m just glad I could kind of grind through today.” Grind, again—the theme of the night. With that cushion, he kept stacking outs, stretching into the seventh and delivering on a goal he stated right up top: “go deep into the game and give the pen a little bit of a rest.”
Rortvedt’s steady work deserves a nod here. Glasnow specifically credited “working with Ben back there” as the turning point in finding the slider and settling the mix. On a night when the four-seam “wasn’t really working,” the battery pivoted together—more sinkers for early contact, more sliders as the feel arrived, and selective spins of the curve when it cooperated. It wasn’t flashy; it was effective.
There’s also a bit of personal momentum building. The win marked his second straight after a long stretch without one. Asked about stacking victories, Glasnow kept it simple: “Who knows? Hopefully they come in bunches.” If he’s going to keep them coming, nights like this matter. Not the 12-strikeout domes—he’s had those—but the mud-and-cleats, problem-solving outings that still end with a handshake line and a calm bullpen.
In the big picture, this is the version of Glasnow that plays in October: the power arm that can bully lineups when everything is synced, and the veteran who can adapt on the fly when it isn’t. He didn’t have the A-plus feel. He had a plan, a partner, and the conviction to keep throwing the pitch that made sense next. The line tells the story: one run, three hits, 6.2 innings. The quotes fill in the margins—honest about the struggle, quietly proud of the solve. On a night defined by adjustments, the Dodgers got exactly what they needed from their pitcher: a compete-first win.
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