Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Among the multitude of awesome stuff that went on at Chavez Ravine over the weekend was in the 8th inning of Sunday’s game. After nearly a year and a half away from the big leagues, reliever Blake Treinen finally took the mound. And, because of the recent injuries to both Evan Phillips and Ryan Brasier, it was probably in a higher leverage situation that Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts would have liked: a 4-1 game against the rival Atlanta Braves against some of the best hitters in the Atlanta lineup: Jerred Kelenic, reigning MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. and the ever pesky Ozzie Albies. If there were ever a test of how Blake’s stuff would play, this was it.
First, he got Kelenic to whiff on a ridiculously nasty slider that even caused Twitter’s famous Pitching Ninja Rob Friedman to gasp for breath. Then, he induced a groundout to short from Acuna on a sinker. Finally, he got Albies to fly out to straightaway center on a cutter. Three different pitches. Three outs. 1-2-3. That’s the Blake we remember.
New Dodger fans will be forgiven for not seeing what a big deal this is. Treinen has really missed the better part of two solid seasons. But if you take the Wayback machine to 2020 and 2021, you’ll see just what a vital part Treinen played in two of the best seasons in Dodgers history. In the shortened 2020, Treinen pitched in nearly half of the team’s 60 games, and got a key save in the World Series.Then, in 2021, the dude was practically unhittable as the Dodgers piled up 106 wins. In 72 appearances that year, Treinen had a microscopic 1.99 ERA and posted a WHIP of 0.98. That, my friends, is elite.
But then things got derailed by injuries. He got hurt early in 2022, but thought he could heal without surgery. He did come back, but only made five appearances at the end of the year, including an inning in the NLDS in which he gave up a homer to Jake Cronenworth of the Padres. He never got in another game (there was only one more), and decided he would need surgery after all. Ugh. Sub-optimal.
So after a year rehabbing that surgery, he came back to the team in the spring of this year, and looked great in his time on the mound. But after four scoreless appearances, he took a liner off the ribs in Arizona, and it was back to rehab for the last two months. Then, finally after pitching a bit down on the farm, he made his Dodgers’ debut on Sunday, and it couldn’t have gone any better.
“It was good to see him back out there, to see him be efficient and make pitches when he needed to,” Roberts said of Treinen. “It looked like he used his entire pitch mix, and that Wiffle ball he threw to Kelenic was pretty impressive. I’m just happy that he didn’t have to labor through that first one.”
You and me both, Doc. I’m going to lay down a marker right here. If the Dodgers can get something approximating 2021 Treinen this year, the team will essentially be unstoppable. And if Phillips can stay as closer once he returns from his injury, and if Brusdar Graterol can get back and pitch well, not to mention Hudson, Keilly and Vesia, teams can just forget about coming back on this bullpen.
It’s going to be delicious.
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