It’s been a wild week in Dodgerland. We just celebrated Clayton Kershaw for etching his name in franchise history with 3000 strikeouts. Now, here we are 2 days later, discussing the Los Angeles Dodgers’ brutal loss at home. Let’s just say the bats of the Houston Astros proved to be all-consuming this time.

In this historic collapse, the Dodgers were handed an 18-1 loss by the Astros. And this margin happens to be the largest one recorded at Dodger Stadium. Unfortunately, most of the undesirable spotlight fell directly on rookie Ben Casparius.

The rookie had pitched in relief after Shohei Ohtani in his previous two games. He got an opportunity for a starter role this time; however, it didn’t go as expected. He ended up giving six runs and nine hits across only three innings.

By the fifth inning, the Astros had a strong 7-1 lead, which prompted Dave Roberts to pull Noah Davis from the bullpen. That didn’t turn out well either. After striking out Dubón to finish the inning, Davis later gave up 10 runs that put the Dodgers in a worse situation. After the game, Roberts expressed his disappointment in Casparius. “You know, I don’t think Ben was good tonight. You know, it seemed like they were on everything he threw up there.”

Roberts also hinted at moving Casparius completely into the bullpen role as Emmet Sheehan is returning. “Well, I think what’s going to happen with Ben is, obviously Emmet’s coming, he’ll probably go to the pen and get him back to shortening him up a little bit and to kind of get him into the starter role.”

Casparius sits with a 4.68 ERA as of now with a 1.22 WHIP. Across 26 games and 59 innings, he has struck out 57 batters and walked 12. Unfortunately, the Astros managed to hit three home runs off him. Now, moving forward, with Emmet Sheehan and other Dodgers players returning from injury setbacks, what will it mean for Casparius?

Dodgers’ rotation decisions amid returning players

The Dodgers made a choice to stretch Ben Casparius into a starter role back in mid-June. They made that choice. It was a good outing as he threw four innings of one-run ball against the Padres. But it hasn’t been the same since then. Across his last appearances, out of which one was a start and the other three were bulk outings behind Ohtani, he has allowed 12 runs over 15 innings.

After Friday’s blunder against the Astros, Casparius opened up about what’s been wrong. According to him, it’s the “execution” that has gone wrong. “I think teams are starting to game plan, obviously, a little bit more knowing I’m going to go more than one or two innings,” he added.

Now, Casparius will be moved to the bullpen after Sheehan takes over the starting role. Meanwhile, with Tyler Glasnow’s return, the Dodgers and Roberts have better clarity before making rotation decisions for the remainder of the season.

You can expect to see Glashow back on the field next week during the Dodgers’ upcoming games against the Brewers and Giants. Plus, Blake Snell is also set to start a rehab assignment next week. Before the end of July, he’s expected to be back. With all of them finally returning, the lineup won’t look the same. But do you think they will all return with the same momentum? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section…