Dodgers Recall Breakout Pitcher, Officially Place Roki Sasaki on Injured List

The Los Angeles Dodgers placed right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki on the injured list ahead of Thursday's series finale against the Atlanta Braves.

Replacing him on the active roster is right-handed pitcher Seth Halvorsen.

What is Roki Sasaki's Injury?

Sasaki was in the midst of a breakout second half before suddenly getting a blister on the middle finger of his right hand. He exited Wednesday's game in the fourth inning, and afterwards, manager Dave Roberts announced he'd be going on the IL.

"It's going to be an IL. I think there's just no way we can avoid it given the severity of the blister," Roberts said. "So we’ll give him some time. But we can cover it up actually to keep his arm moving."

Overall this season, Sasaki owns a 4.60 ERA across 119.1 innings. However, in his seven starts since the All-Star break, he has a 3.05 ERA over 38.1 innings.

Thus, the timing of the injury is extremely unfortunate.

“It’s more disappointing with Roki because he has been so consistently good,” Roberts said. “And I don’t think he’s dealt with any blister issues. So for it to kind of come out of nowhere was a surprise to all of us. He was on a good run. So now unfortunately, it’s going to be minimum two weeks.”

Roberts said left-hander Eric Lauer, who was recently moved to the bullpen and threw two innings in relief on Wednesday, would take Sasaki's spot in the rotation for now. As for Sasaki, he'll hope the blister heals quickly to get him back on the mound in time to ramp up for the postseason.

The right-hander said he didn't notice any signs of the blister before it popped up in the fourth inning.

"When I was facing the first hitter in the fourth inning, I actually didn't feel anything coming beforehand," Sasaki said through an interpreter. "My skin just ripped off, and then after that, it got worse."

"I thought I was able to manage at first because the skin was still there," he added. "But after that, it kept getting worse, and I think it affected my slider."

The earliest Sasaki can return is Friday, Sept. 11, when the Dodgers are in Miami to take on the Marlins.

Dodgers Recall Seth Halvorsen

As for the corresponding move, Halvorsen is back with Los Angeles and will look to pick up where he left off in his one outing at the major league level for the Dodgers.

The right-hander, who was acquired from the Colorado Rockies last month, earned a win in his Dodgers debut on Aug. 11 against the Kansas City Royals, pitching a scoreless 10th inning.

Seth Halvorsen just had a scoreless Dodgers debut, stranding the ghost runner in the 10th inning.

He averaged 100.7 mph on his fastball and touched 101.3 mph twice.

He was acquired from the Rockies for Nick Frasso and Landyn Vidourek. pic.twitter.com/86OL1u6Vzv
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) August 12, 2026

The hard-throwing right-hander went back to Triple-A after the game, and he's continued his dominance for Oklahoma City, where he's pitched 9.2 scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts in 10 appearances.

He'll now look to help a Dodgers bullpen for at least the rest of this week, and potentially even longer.

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