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Blake Snell doesn’t really use his ring or pinky fingers to manipulate his throws when he pitches.

So, even as he had felt numbness in the digits the last couple years, he didn’t really think much of it.

“I couldn’t feel these fingers,” he said Friday, pointing to the outer two extremities on his left throwing hand. “They were kind of numb, but I don’t need them, so I didn’t really care.”

At least, that’s how Snell felt before he underwent a surgical procedure earlier this year to remove bone chips from his elbow.

Now, he realizes just how compromised his arm had been by the issue –– from his elbow, to his shoulder, all the way down to the tips of his hand.

“It’s the best I’ve felt in three years by far,” the Dodgers’ ace declared, now two months removed from his surgery and on the verge of returning to the team’s starting rotation. “Shoulder feels great. Elbow feels great. Body feels great. I’ve been able to rest, heal.”

Snell has one last box to check before he rejoins the Dodgers.

After a promising performance in his third minor-league rehab start on Wednesday (four scoreless innings with single-A Ontario with nine strikeouts), the two-time Cy Young winner is scheduled to complete his recovery process in a five-inning outing with triple-A Oklahoma City next Tuesday.

There was a thought Snell could be ready to be activated by next week. But earlier this season, his elbow flared up on him after an initial rehab assignment –– as part of his recovery from offseason shoulder pain –– was cut one start short. 

Thus, “I’m not going to argue it,” Snell quipped. “I did last time and I got hurt. So, yeah, I’m going to shut up.”

Instead, Snell is hopeful his improved health will do the talking once he is back on a major-league mound.

Now free of the physical limitations he battled last year, when his ailing shoulder sidelined him for much of the regular season and gradually diminished his initially dominant form in the playoffs, the $182 million signing believes he’s primed for a strong run down the stretch.

“[My mechanics now are] way better,” he said, while mimicking his release in front of his locker. “I can release the ball out here now.”

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The 33-year-old is hopeful that will allow him to rediscover the best version of himself, and no longer force him to compensate for his aching shoulder pain. Or, for that matter, his lingering finger numbness, which he said was caused by the loose bodies in his elbow pressing up against a nerve.

“Once they came out,” he said of his bone chips, which were removed using the revolutionary NanoNeedle surgical procedure, “I was like, ‘Wow, I can feel my fingers.’”

More importantly, he added, “my shoulder pain went completely away,” as well.

So far in his rehab stint, Snell has been pleased with his ability to get swing-and-miss with his fastball at the top of the strike zone, tunnel a steadily improving curveball off of it to put hitters away, and maintain more consistency with his trademark changeup and slider.

“I just have way more range [of motion],” he said. “I’m finally getting out there again [with my extension].”

Now, it sets up a closing act for this season that will be similar to last year –– when Snell returned from his shoulder injury in August, posted a 2.41 ERA in his final nine regular starts, then threw three playoff gems (seven innings, two runs in the wild card round, six scoreless innings in the division series, and eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in the National League Championship Series) before battling shoulder pain again in the World Series.

The only difference now, he noted with a grin: “I’m healthy.”

For a Dodgers team banking on improved rotation health to carry it to a third-straight World Series, it could prove to be a massive development.

The Dodgers (69-40) look to secure their 70th win of the season when they open a three-game series against the Red Sox (57-51) Friday night at Dodger Stadium. 

Edgardo Henriquez (4-1, 2.79 ERA, 1.05 WHIP) starts for the Dodgers as opener in a bullpen game.

Ranger Suárez (4-3, 3.02 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) toes the rubber for the Red Sox.

Lineups

Tonight's #Dodgers lineup vs. Red Sox: pic.twitter.com/QBT207XIFl

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 31, 2026

Who's staying up with us tonight? pic.twitter.com/BjpNSsYaea

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 31, 2026

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Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Red Sox
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Mets didn't have much going offensively Friday night, falling to the Miami Marlins, 5-2.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Getting the start after the team scratched Freddy Peralta with the trade deadline three days away, Kodai Senga made his first appearance in 13 days and looked good for four innings before falling apart in the fifth.

The right-hander retired the first six Marlins he faced with three strikeouts, including back-to-back Ks to end the second inning. He let up a one-out double in the third inning, but battled through and found a way to keep the shutout going through the fourth inning. 

Senga then hit a wall in the fifth, walking two straight and letting up an RBI double to Jakob Marsee that ended his night. He finished after four-plus innings (49 pitches), allowing three runs on two hits with four strikeouts and the two walks.

-- Francisco Lindor became the Mets first baserunner in the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk, but got caught in a weird rundown on Bo Bichette's grounder to short after overrunning second base. Carson Benge then recorded the team's first hit on a double, although he and Bichette were left stranded as Luis Robert struck out looking to end the scoring chance.

-- Xzavion Curry replaced Senga on the mound in the fifth with runners on second and third base, and allowed a two-run single to Joe Mack as Miami went up 3-0. Curry let up another run on Xavier Edwards' single to make it a 4-0 game, but got some help from Francisco Alvarez catching Edwards stealing second for the third out.

The right-hander ended up tossing 5.0 innings in relief, allowing two runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

-- A.J. Ewing took advantage of two runners on base and put the Mets on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out RBI single, as the Mets trailed, 4-1. Lindor then kept it going and loaded the bases with a single, but Bichette popped up to end the inning. New York finished the game with seven runners left on base, going 2-for-6 with RISP.

-- Miami's Kyle Stowers (in the top of the sixth off Curry) and Lindor (in the bottom of the seventh off Calvin Faucher) traded solo home runs to keep it a three-run game, 5-2.

Game MVP: Marlins pitching

Five different Miami pitchers held New York to seven hits and just two runs. Janson Junk allowed one run on three hits over 5.0 IP and Pete Fairbanks got the save.

Highlights

Three strikeouts in two innings for Kodai Senga! 👻 pic.twitter.com/AEUkUilVkk

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 31, 2026

A.J. Ewing gets the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/8nSYDbES8g

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 1, 2026

Francisco Lindor homers on the ninth pitch of the at-bat!

It's his 150th home run as a Met! pic.twitter.com/nLhAbLlCTU

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 1, 2026

A.J. Ewing runs a LONG way to make the sprawling catch! pic.twitter.com/Iw1o7LWKcp

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 1, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins continue their series on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Zac Thornton (2-1, 2.43 ERA) will face Tyler Phillips (2-5, 3.52 ERA).

Game Summary

Full recap to follow shortly. For now, enjoy the win and discuss in the comments!

Win Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• Jose Ramirez worked a walk in the first inning against Bratt, which isn’t a terrible outcome considering what he’s capable of with the bat, but then stole second almost immediately. Gabi made an extremely quick throw to give Domo a chance but the ball leaked to the first base side and was just clipped off Gerry’s glove allowing Ramirez to slide in safely. If Gerry was able to corral the throw, Ramirez would’ve been out by a good margin.
• Bratt got his first strikeout of the day thanks to a nice challenge by Gabi, changing a full count to a strikeout.
• Ryan Waldschmidt got the Diamondbacks first hit of the game with 2 outs in the 3rd, then ran into the third out of the inning when he started early for second in a steal attempt, thought better of it and tried to go back to first but the pitcher had plenty of time to pivot off the rubber and pick him off.
• Bratt gave up a leadoff single in the 3rd, then they Stephen Vogt had his leadoff hitter sacrifice bunt to get the runner to 2nd. That was a questionable choice that Bratt exploited by retiring the next 2 hitters to get out of the inning without allowing the runner to score.
• D-backs got 2 straight runners on with 2 out in the 4th thanks to 2 HBP. Both plunks just barely grazed Gabi and Ketel, with Ketel’s needing video review to confirm it happened. 
• Bratt walked the leadoff hitter in the 4th, but I’d say only the last of those balls wasn’t a strike. Bratt was dotting the edges of the zone according to the TV box but Gabi couldn’t quite get himself to pull the trigger on a challenge. All’s well that ends well, though, since Bratt got the next hitter to ground into a 5-4-3 double play with Arenado starting the play with a perfect throw on the run to Ketel so he had a chance to fire a strike to first.
• Diamondbacks hitters had a few long ABs against Bibee, but for the most part they were put in a bind by Bibee’s ability to pump strikes in the zone early and so were swinging early and often. After 5 innings, Bibee only had 65 pitches.
• Nolan Arenado made a very nice play on a groundball down the third base line to get a critical 2nd out in the 5th. The Guardians runner at second was able to advance to third on the play, but Torey made the correct call to then intentionally walk Jose Ramirez and Bratt finished the job by getting a can of corn fly out to Kepler. Excellent job by fielding, coaching, and pitching to keep the deficit at 1 run through 5 innings.
• After Gerry went the opposite way to get a bases loaded single and tie the game, Gabi hit a liner in nearly the exact same spot but the right fielder let the ball eat him up and it bounced off his glove and rolled away. Still only got 2 runs home on the play because the runners had to freeze to see if the ball would be caught on the fly, but a big break for the Snakes resulted in a 2-run lead and still only 1 out in the inning!

Comment of the Game

A very light GameDay Thread tonight, likely due to the combination of early start and lack of offense early. Only 116 comments at time of publishing and of the few Sedona Red comments, I’ll choose Snake_Bitten’s response to the offense waking up as COTG:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Guardians for the second game of this interleague 3-game set tomorrow afternoon with a 4:15pm first pitch Arizona time and televised on FOX. In a matchup of southpaws, Parker Messick (8-6, 2.59 ERA) is listed as the probable starter for The Land and young Kohl Drake (0-0, 5.00 ERA) will get the ball for the good guys.

Scoreboard Watching

More to come later, but right now it’s looking like a great day in the standings with losses for the Cubs, Pirates, Phillies, Cardinals and Nationals. Only the Marlins have won of the contenders for the WC spots.

The Braves racked up hits early and often in this one, and two big swats in particular from Matt Olson and Michael Harris II gave the Braves the push they needed to pick up what’s becoming a somewhat rare occurrence lately: A comfortable win.

From the outset in this one, the Braves were in control and their grip seemingly got stronger as the game progressed. It didn’t take Atlanta long to inflict damage upon Foster Griffin, as Matt Olson turned on a cutter on the inner half of the zone and laser-beamed it into the Chop House to get things going for Atlanta. A nice little rally in the second inning saw Jim Jarvis plate Mauricio Dubón with an RBI single (the third single of the inning) to make it 2-0 Braves and that’s how it stayed until the fourth inning.

It really has to be said that Bryce Elder had himself another solid outing. He’s been getting some very solid results since the All-Star break and this was another example of that. However, he did have a couple of wobbles in this one — one that cost him and another that nearly cost him if not for pulling off a very impressive Houdini act.

The first wobble occurred to lead off the fourth inning, which is when CJ Abrams sent one flying to the moon for a no-doubt dinger that put Washington on the board and cut Atlanta’s two-run lead in half. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it was a Vintage Bryce Elder Hanger because in actuality, it was a pitch that was in the upper corner of the zone. Instead, it’s just one of those moments where you’ve got to tip the cap to the opposition. CJ Abrams is having a fantastic season right now and he’s pretty good at this whole “baseball” thing so this was just him being good at hitting baseballs, in my opinion.

The next wobble came in the sixth inning and this time, it sure felt like Elder got away with one during this frame. With one out in the sixth, Elder decided that he wasn’t going to take any chances with Abrams and pitched around him for the most part in a walk. Brady House then came up to bat and on the fourth pitch he saw, Elder left him a hanging slider in the middle of the zone and House sent it flying all the way to the brick wall in right field for a double. That certainly could’ve ended poorly for Elder and the Braves but fortunately, we live in the universe where that was a double and not something worse for Atlanta.

Even more fortunately, Elder was able to induce a fly ball out of Daylen Lile that wasn’t deep enough for Abrams to feel comfortable with challenging Michael Harris II’s arm and then he got Harry Ford to pop out in foul territory to end the scoring threat right then and there. Elder escaped without giving up a run and that completed another six productive innings for the enigmatic hurler from Texas.

It sure was good that Elder got out of that frame without giving up a run because the Braves proceeded to jump all over Foster Griffin in the very next frame. Atlanta went Matt Olson double-Ozzie Albies single-Michael Harris II three-run dinger-and-Mauricio Dubón single to lead off the sixth and give themselves a very nice amount of breathing room. Austin Riley struck out to end the nightmare run for Griffin but by that point, the Nationals decided to go into their bullpen.

Things didn’t go much better for Trevor Williams as he walked Joey Bart right out of the gate and then gave up an RBI single to Jim Jarvis to make it four runs in the sixth for Atlanta. The Braves had the bases loaded after CJ Abrams froze a bit while trying to decide where he wanted to throw the ball on a fielders’ choice but they were able to limit the Braves to “just” the four runs in the sixth after Drake Baldwin grounded into his second double play of the evening to end the inning right then and there.

From that point forward, it was up to Atlanta’s bullpen to make sure that there were no nasty surprises waiting for them down the home stretch of this one. As a matter of fact, “Atlanta’s bullpen” ended up being just Elieser Hernández as he covered the final three innings on his own and kept Washington’s strong lineup from doing any more serious damage.

The only real offense that Washington could muster up from that point was a solo homer in the ninth inning from Andrés Chaparro that felt like watching a professional wrestler who took a three-count pin pop up right after the the count of “3” was made and simply walk out of the ring instead of selling like they just took a serious beating. If you watch wrestling, you know. If not, I apologize.

Anyways, Elieser Hernández ended up getting the final three outs and the Braves picked up their first win by more than one run since July 19 when they beat the Rangers 8-5. That’s a good problem to have! We’ll see these two teams get back at it tomorrow night starting at 7:15 p.m. ET and we’ll also see if Reynaldo López can look like the better pitcher against Miles Mikolas.

It is Friday night. The Orioles kicked off their weekend homestand with a 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Down 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, they rallied to score four runs on a double by Christian Encarnacion-Strand and a triple by Gunnar Henderson.

Brandon Young battled through 5.2 innings and the bullpen held the Phillies to one hit over the final 3.1 innings. Newly extended Yennier Cano was perfect, as was closer Tyler Wells.

Moments after the game ended, the Cleveland Guardians lost to bring the Orioles to just 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.

You know what must be done.

GIFs!

The Rays entered Friday’s game with a three-game lead in the AL East, after the Yankees beat the Cubs in an afternoon affair at Wrigley Field, By the end of Friday’s game, which saw the division lead cut to 2.5, the last completed trade was AJ Minter to the Twins. There is now less than three days until Monday’s 6 pm deadline.

Nick Martinez took the mound for the Rays, and it wasn’t a night to remember for the All-Star pitcher. He gave up six runs over six innings, all of them coming on four White Sox home runs. It’s a scary thought to think about Martinez, who doesn’t have overpowering stuff, facing teams like this in a postseason setting. There’s still time to bolster this rotation, Erik.

The one bright spot for the Rays on Friday night was Junior Caminero hitting his 30th home run of the season. He’s on pace to reach the 40 mark for a second straight season.

Alex Cook, who replaced Shane McClanahan on the active roster, made his Major League debut, pitching the seventh and eighth innings. Cook walked a pair and didn’t record any strikeouts, but kept the White Sox off the board in his two innings of work. He leaned on his fastball, throwing it 76% of the time, occasionally mixing in a slider and changeup.

In Durham this season, Cook has thrown 33.1 innings with a 3.78 ERA.

The division race is far from decided, but tonight’s loss is a reminder that reinforcements are needed. Like the rest of the league, the Rays are waiting for the few sellers to budge and for the dam to burst before Monday’s deadline.

Any game that Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease is involved in is likely to be a pitcher’s duel. That proved true Friday night, but Kyle Leahy was equally vexing to the Blue Jays lineup. Eventually it would come down to which team would prevail against the other’s bullpen and I’ll give you two guesses, but you’ll only need one to figure out whose bullpen won.

There isn’t much offense from either team to share for the first half of Friday’s game in Toronto, but there was an excellent defense play from Alec Burleson who robbed Nathan Lukes leading off the bottom of the 1st inning.

Alec Burleson also had the Cardinals first hit of the game which didn’t happen until the top of the 4th inning when he lead off with a double. Unfortunately, neither Herrera, Nootbaar or Winn could drive him in. When Dylan Cease is on the mound, you had better take advantage of scoring chances.

St. Louis had a similar opportunity with different results in the top of the 5th inning when Nathan Church led off with a single under Clement’s glove. He then stole second giving the Cardinals another runner in scoring position with no outs. Fermin grounded out to Guerrero Jr. who made a great play at first which moved Church to third with one out. Jimmy Crooks struck out, but JJ Wetherholt drew a walk and then Jordan Walker came through with a two-out single to left center scoring Church and giving St. Louis a precious 1-0 lead.

Kyle Leahy avoided drama until the bottom of the 5th inning when the Toronto Blue Jays started a two-out rally when Valenzuela singled followed by Gimenez who grounded deep to short where Masyn Winn nearly made an incredible play almost throwing him out at first. But, Nathan Lukes hit a weak fly to Jordan Walker in right to end the inning with no real damage done.

The Blue Jays would finally get to Leahy in the bottom of the 6th inning. Vladamir Guerrero Jr., who had not hit a home run in Toronto this season, came within an eyelash of doing that Friday night. He crushed an 85 mph Leahy curveball that hung up in the zone high off of the left field wall for a leadoff double. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a double of his own into the left field corner scoring Guerrero Jr. tying the game 1-1. It could have been worse as Springer lined out to Burleson at first. Varsho then hit a laser groundball that took a short hop on JJ Wetherholt, but he was able to snag it and throw Varsho out. Finally, Clement popped out to centerfield where Nathan Church made a run-saving diving catch to end the Blue Jays 6th.

Both Kyle Leahy and Dylan Cease would come out of the game after 6 complete innings by each. Kyle Leahy’s stat line was 6 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 run while striking out 3 and walking 1. Dylan Cease’s 6 innings also included 1 earned run, but he only allowed 3 hits while striking out 7 and walking 3. You know you’ve had a solid outing when you’ve gone mano-a-mano with All-Star Cease.

The Cardinals bullpen took over the bottom of the 7th with Justin Bruihl. He struck out Schneider, but then allowed a single to Valenzuela. Gimenez then hit a ball to the right side of the infield that glanced off of Burleson’s glove giving Toronto runners at first and second with no outs. Manager Oli Marmol brought in Peter Strezelecki to replace Bruihl. The Blue Jays had Myles Straw pinch-hit for Lukes and he was immediately plunked on the arm by Strezelecki loading the bases for the very much overdue Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with just one out. In what can almost be considered a baseball miracle, Strezelecki got Guerrero Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play keeping the game tied 1-1 after 7 innings.

After the Cardinals did nothing with their half of the 8th inning, Strezelecki stayed in the game long enough to get one out before walking Springer and Varsho. Gordon Graceffo was handed the ball with the hope that he could keep the game tied. He upped the degree of difficulty by walking Ernie Clement to load the bases. The Blue Jays sent up pinch-hitter Luis Urias. He took the second pitch he saw which was a slider on the outside part of the plate and turned it into a 2-run RBI single giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals were fortunate to get an inning-ending double play to keep Toronto from piling on even more runs.

For the Cardinals to extend Friday’s game, the bottom half of the St. Louis lineup would have to come through against Blue Jays All-Star reliever Louis Varland. Lars Nootbaar started the Cardinals 9th with a groundout to Clement at second. Masyn Winn was able to line a single into right field to give St. Louis some hope bringing up Nathan Church who already had 2 hits on the night as the potential tying run. He flew out to right field for the second out. Jose Fermin grounded out to end the game and start the Cardinals Canadian field trip with a loss.

Saturday’s matinee matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays will feature the Major League debut of Quinn Matthews. He’ll compete with Kevin Gausman who gets the start for the Blue Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 2:07pm central time and the TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.

We’re back and not better than ever. The Mariners open one of their longest homestands of the season tonight, starting with the Twins for three games before the Tigers and Rays come to town, with the Rays series falling during the “50 Seasons” celebration. Also, it’s Fireworks Night, and you’ll just need to trust me on this, but the Mariners are 1-557 on fireworks nights, with the one win being J.P.‘s walkoff last season when he was actually pissed to have to stay over later on a fireworks night when everyone who isn’t a fan is just trying to get out of the building ASAP before the traffic hits. So. Fireworks nights are not my favorites. And just to get ahead of this, I also loathe the Blue Angels, who were flying overhead earlier. Loud noises aren’t my favorite unless it’s the musical stylings of Steely Dan or the crack of a baseball coming off Julio’s bat.

Lineups:

J.P. Crawford will get a guaranteed early exit from the ballpark tonight as he’s been placed on the seven-day IL with wrist soreness. Leo Rivas is here in his place, but it’s Weston Wilson getting the start at third tonight instead. Luke Raley is out of the lineup tonight; the elbow strain that he’s been playing through is bothering him today, but he was out on the field participating in warm-ups pregame. He’s day-to-day.

News:

As mentioned above, J.P. Crawford is sidelined with wrist inflammation. Read about that and more in John’s injury update.

The Twins kicked off their trade deadline by making a move prior to this series, because you just gotta get as many lefties as you can before facing the Mariners:

We have made the following trade with the New York Mets: pic.twitter.com/c4bi6a2Yu7

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 31, 2026

Game information:

Game time: 7:10 PT (because FIREWORK)

TV: Mariners.TV with Aaron Goldsmith and Ryan Rowland-Smith with Angie Mentink as field reporter; the game will also show over the airwaves on King 5 in Seattle.

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

Detroit Tigers vs. Athletics

Time/Place: 9:40 p.m., Sutter Health Park
SB Nation Site:Athletics Nation
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

The Dodgers on Friday placed Brock Stewart on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort, and called up veteran left-hander Cole Irvin from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take down bulk innings in the planned bullpen game in the series opener against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium.

It’s the third injured-list this season for Stewart, who missed the first 36 games of the season after right shoulder debridement surgery last September, then missed another 40 games with a bone spur in his left foot.

When on the mound this year, Stewart has been quite effective, with a 2.45 ERA and 2.08 xERA in 14 appearances, with 14 strikeouts and five walks in 14 2/3 innings. Last Saturday, he earned his first save in three years in closing out a win over the Mets.

Staying on the field has been the issue for the 34-year-old Stewart, who since returning to the majors with the Minnesota Twins in 2023 has been sidelined with right elbow soreness, shoulder tendinitis, a shoulder strain, a left hamstring strain, and shoulder inflammation, while totaling just 101 games and 95 2/3 innings over the last four (nearly) full seasons.

Since the Dodgers acquired Stewart at the trade deadline in 2025, he’s been on the active roster for 43 games and on the injured list for 119 games through Thursday, before this new IL stint.

The 32-year-old Irvin, a native of Anaheim, has a 3.58 ERA in 20 starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, with 55 strikeouts and 43 walks in 98 innings. Irvin leads the Pacific Coast League in ERA and wins (nine) this season.

Another day, another gem by Cole Irvin👏

6.0 IP | 4 H | 0 R | 1 BB | 3 K pic.twitter.com/tq7cXeltaR

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) July 19, 2026

The left-hander signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in February after pitching in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2025, and was a non-roster invitee during spring training.

After both Edwin Díaz and Tanner Scott pitched on each of the last two nights, the Dodgers weren’t likely to be able to cover nine innings of a true bullpen game with six mostly traditional relievers. Irvin with the Comets has lasted six innings in eight starts and has completed five or more 14 times in his 20 starts. He last pitched on Saturday, so Irvin against the Red Sox will be pitching on five days of rest.

Irvin earlier this week was slated to start Friday for Oklahoma City before major league needs took precedence.

Edgardo Henriquez will open Friday’s game for the Dodgers, the right-hander technically making his first major league start.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Irvin, right-hander Chayce McDermott was designated for assignment. The right-hander was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on April 16 for minor league pitcher Axel Perez. McDermott pitched in two games for the Dodgers and allowed two runs in 2 1/3 innings, with one strikeout.

For Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, McDermott had a 4.10 ERA in 27 games with 43 strikeouts and 20 walks in 26 1/3 innings.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Dodgers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

What do you get the team with the most talent in the sport? We asked you guys, and a new catcher was at the top of the wishlist, taking 47 percent of the votes. Before getting into what that might entail, let’s take a moment to appreciate the absurdity that not a single vote was cast for a position player (outside of catcher) — rightfully so, with no open spot on this roster the team could realistically hope to improve on That and other priorities, of course, while trying to improve its World Series odds.

The remaining 53 percent who didn’t vote for catcher were nearly split between starting and relief pitching. Both units share the exciting prospect of reinforcements on the way or recently arrived, with Edwin Díaz just activated and Blake Snell not far behind him. While any bullpen could always use an extra arm, the starting staff has this looming cloud over it with questions regarding the availability of Shohei Ohtani.

Assessing options on the market for these positions of “need,” with Will Smith’s rehab finally showing promising signs, the Dodgers may very well limit themselves to less splashy options. As we covered before here, Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers of the Twins may represent the best targets. A pending free agent, Jeffers wouldn’t cost a king’s ransom, unlike other more exciting controllable catchers, and the veteran Caratini would represent a safety net type of acquisition.

On the starting pitching front, with Eric Lauer thriving since being acquired by the Dodgers and Snell returning, it feels like a Tarik Skubal or bust kind of situation. Sure, there are other options who could prove to be an improvement over what the Dodgers have on the backend of the rotation right now, at least in terms of ceiling, but they’re not particularly likely moves. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, some of the better potentially available relievers at the deadline play for the Padres, making for a difficult deal as San Diego would inevitably prefer to move them to someone else. Everyone might want to talk about Mason Miller as the dream target, but pending free agent Adrian Morejón might be a more feasible acquisition and a great one in his own right.

Whether the target is a starter or a reliever, perhaps the best team to talk with is the Mets. While their record is atrocious, the Mets don’t lack in high-end reliever quality, with Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver pitching great and firmly available. A.J. Minter was also in this group, but he was the first to go, traded to the Twins on Thursday night. In the unlikely scenario the Dodgers want to add a starter not named Skubal, Clay Holmes ticks a lot of boxes, having recently returned from an injury and heading for the open market at the end of the year.