First pitch: 3 things I heard in Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays clubhouses
By Kevin Henry
Los Angeles Dodgers keeping an eye on Tony Gonsolin’s velocity
In his July 21 road start against the Texas Rangers, Gonsolin’s fastball hovered between 92.2 and 95.2 mph. The top of that range was a good sign for Dave Roberts as Gonsolin’s fastball has averaged just 92.4 mph all season.
The fastball helped make a difference as Gonsolin struck out six Rangers, the most he has in an outing in more than a month.
“The average velocity was better in his last start. Also the split, but all the stuff was good,” Roberts said. “Hopefully he turned the corner. We got a good outing from Julio (Urias) last night (Tuesday) and if we can get into the off day with another good one from Tony to reset the bullpen would be huge.”
Gonsolin, however, would struggle early against the Blue Jays, giving up a pair of runs and loading the bases in his first 2.2 innings of work before pitching coach Mark Prior visited the mound. He responded to the visit by striking out Whit Merrifield to end the threat and the third inning.
Merrifield would get his revenge in the fifth, launching an 0-2 pitch from Gonsolin over the left field wall to extend Toronto’s lead to 5-0.
Gonsolin’s velocity was there again on Wednesday, throwing a pair of 95.2 mph fastballs during a fifth-inning duel with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In all, Gonsolin threw 109 pitches in his 5.0 innings of work, including 62 for strikes. Of the pitches, 49 were fastballs ranging from 95.2 to 91.3 mph, with an average of 93.3 mph, still above what had been his season average.