Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen is done for the year after hurting his shoulder while warming up in the bullpen Saturday against the Giants.
Manager Dave Roberts said after the game that Treinen will not pitch again in the regular season or the playoffs. The veteran right-hander felt something go wrong as he prepared to enter in the seventh inning. Brock Stewart came in instead.
“I don’t know if it was a complete blowout, but really unfortunate,” Roberts said.
The team plans to send Treinen for imaging to get a clearer picture of the damage. Roberts described it as a shoulder flare-up.
The timing could hardly be worse. Treinen had just returned earlier this month after missing July and August with right elbow inflammation. He made seven appearances after coming off the injured list, allowing three earned runs in 6.2 innings.
He finishes the regular season 4-1 with a 3.64 ERA. He appeared in 36 games and struck out more than a batter per inning while working mostly in a setup role.
At 38, Treinen is one of the few players who has been with the Dodgers for all three of their World Series titles this decade. He threw 2.1 scoreless innings in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series and was the winning pitcher when Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees to clinch the championship.
He also saved three games in three chances during that postseason run and allowed just three runs across nine October appearances.
The Dodgers already had questions in the right-handed side of the bullpen heading into October. Will Klein and Edgardo Henriquez have dealt with their own injury issues. Without Treinen, the club is more likely to lean on Roki Sasaki in high-leverage relief after the young pitcher shifts from the rotation.
Evan Phillips, Edwin Diaz and Brock Stewart figure to be the main right-handed options available to Roberts in the postseason.
Treinen has a complicated injury history with his throwing shoulder. He missed all of 2023 after surgery to repair his labrum and rotator cuff. He had not landed on the injured list for a shoulder problem since then until Saturday.
He joined the Dodgers in 2020 and has gone 23-20 with a 2.88 ERA in 222 regular-season games for the club. Career-wide he is 49-42 with a 2.94 ERA and 83 saves over 12 major league seasons.
He is scheduled to become a free agent after the season. The new shoulder setback, coming so soon after the elbow problem, will likely shape whether he pitches again and for whom.
Treinen was warming up after Kris Bubic finished the sixth. Stewart needed extra time to get ready once Treinen was shut down. The Dodgers were already managing a crowded and somewhat fragile bullpen as they push toward October.
The loss of a veteran who has delivered in October before leaves another hole at a time when every available arm matters. Imaging results in the coming days will show how serious the latest issue is, but the season is already over for Treinen.
