It is an image that will remain etched in the hearts and minds of Dodger fans for a very log time.

It is the image of 25-year-old Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol being helped off the field by teammate Kiké Hernández and Dodgers head trainer Thomas Albert with tears in his eyes after suffering an injury to his right hamstring on his eighth pitch; this after having been reactivated from the Injured List only hours earlier, having spent entire 2024 season recovering and rehabbing from a serious shoulder injury .

“Yeah, it’s heartbreaking,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed, following his team’s 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 47,150 on Tuesday night. “Brusdar, he’s been so good for us. He’s done a lot of good things. He’s pitched in a lot of big ballgames for us, postseason games, and he had a tough road back. Spent a lot of time in Arizona, and being on rehab, and then to come back and, you know, second or third… third hitter he faced to blow out (his hamstring). It was a pretty good blow-out. From what I understand, it was a Grade-3 hamstring, and so, that’s a long road back.

“I feel terrible for him and for his teammates, and I just don’t know, you know, the outlook for this year, certainly, but it was a tough one,” Roberts added.

The Dodger skipper said that 27-year-old right-hander Michael Grove will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to replace Graterol’s spot on the Dodgers roster. Grove appeared in 28 games for the Dodgers (two starts) this season before suffering an intercostal strain in mid-June, for which he began a rehab assignment at OKC on July 21. The Wheeling, WV native was the Dodgers second-round draft pick in 2018 out of West Virginia University.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to “Bazooka” (as Graterol is called by his teammates and fans) for a complete and speedy recovery

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *