The initial plan was to have some type of clever title for this piece about the excellent pitching performance by 26-year-old Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove in the Dodgers 10-3 pounding of the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Tuesday; something witty like ‘Grove Back in the Groove.’ But an unforeseen and unfortunate injury to 32-year-old /11-year MLB veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick squashed that idea.

Marisnick had entered the game in the top of the third inning as a pinch-hitter for Jason Heyward (who had given Dodgers manager Dave Roberts‘ team an early 3-0 lead with his ninth home run of the season in the Dodgers eventual five-run second inning), but had to exit the game with what Roberts later called “left hamstring tightness” that the Riverside, CA native and third round draft pick in 2009 by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Riverside Polytechnic High School in Riverside suffered while stretching to enter the game and further aggravated it while legging out a single in the inning.

“Transitioning to Jake (Marisnick) in there, got a hit, and felt good about him finishing the game for us, and came up in between innings, was stretching, and heard a pop in his hamstring, and tried to go out there and take the field and couldn’t do it,” Roberts said of Marisnick. “It’s something he’s never dealt with, so it’s a surprise to all of us. We’re gonna give him an MRI tomorrow, but yeah, really unfortunate,”

“I think it’s pretty certain,” Roberts added, when asked if this was a potential an IL situation for the veteran outfielder. “Hopefully it’s not and it’s some fasci or something, but the MRI tomorrow will be telling.”

As for Grove, he had his best outing since April 15, during which he allowed only one earned run on only two hits, while walking two and striking out six in his 5.2 innings pitched. In this one, his 12th game (ninth start) of the season, the Wheeling, WV native and Dodgers second round draft pick in 2018 out of the University of West Virginia University again allowed only one earned run on five hits, while walking two and striking out four in his 5.0 innings of work.

“It’s great to like get the results, but it’s just like the process for me, and just keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing … but I’m not getting too caught-up on just one outing,” Grove told reporters after recording his second win of the season against two losses.

Of course, Grove had “..a little help from (his) friends,” as the Beatles might have said. Dodgers catcher Will Smith had his first four-hit game of the year, with his last occurring on July 15, 2022. He also drove in Dodgers (then) center fielder James Outman with his second-inning single.

Well done, boys.

Play Ball!

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