It’s no secret that despite leading the National League West by a (somewhat) comfortable 10.5-games over the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks; or that despite the fact that they are currently tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in all of baseball at 48-24, the Dodgers bullpen remains its Achilles Heel and continues to be the topic of much conversation … and criticism.

But over the past couple of weeks, there has been one shining star among their current corps of seven relievers (excluding soon-to-be four-time All-Star closer Kenley Jansen) who has been very effective out of the Dodgers bullpen of late – 27-year-old Bluebell, Pennsylvania native right-hander Ross Stripling.

It has been well documented that the extremely popular former Aggie and Dodgers 2012 fifth-round draft pick would be a starter on any other MLB team. But with guys named Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda, and baseball’s current best starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-1 / 1.26 ERA) ahead of him in MLB’s best starting rotation, Stripling has been relegated to the Dodgers bullpen, where he is currently joined by Messrs. Jansen, Pedro Baez, Julio Urias, Dylan Floro, Yimi Garcia, Caleb Ferguson and (uggh) Joe Kelly.

Although Stripling’s numbers currently sit at a respectable 3-2 record with a 3.21 ERA over the 19 games in which he has appeared thus far this season (including six so-called ‘spot starts’), in the last two weeks he has been brought into several high-leverage situations and has done exceptionally well.

In his last five outings (since May 31) ‘Chicken Strip,’ as he is affectionately known, has allowed only one run on two hits, with three walks and eight strikeouts in his combined 5.2 innings pitched. During that time he notched two holds and picked up the 3-2 win in Sunday’s extremely exciting game against the defending NL Wild Card-winning Chicago Cubs in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,817.

“It was nice for us to finally get a W,” Stripling told ThinkBlue LA after his 1.0 inning of work on Sunday.

During that 17-pitch (13 strike) eighth inning, Stripling struck out Cubs left fielder Kris Bryant, gave up a single to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, got catcher Wilson Contreras to line out to center and, with the potential go-ahead run on second base, struck out Cubs third baseman David Bote on four pitches to end the inning and the threat.

Dodgers shortstop Chris Taylor led off the home half of the eighth inning with a nine-pitch walk, took second on a ground out by second baseman Max Muncy, and scored on a single to short left field by veteran catcher Russell Martin on a very close play at the plate to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead and Taylor a strawberry on his right cheek. That run (and strawberry) made Stripling the pitcher of record, which Jansen converted into a win after a very intense top of the ninth inning with the tying and winning runs on second and third respectively.

Worthy of note, with yet another brilliant start by Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who figures to be the starting pitcher for the Dave Roberts-led 2019 National League All-Star team on July 9, he now leads all of baseball with his 9-1 record and outstanding 1.26 ERA. In his seven innings of work on Sunday, Ryu allowed no earned runs on seven hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts. He made a total of 94 pitches, of which 68 were for strikes.

Although there is zero doubt that Stripling hopes to one day return to the Dodgers exceptional starting rotation, until there is room at the inn, Chicken Strip is and will most likely continue to be the Ace of the Dodgers bullpen.

Play Ball!

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