Brusdar Graterol could barely contain his excitement on Tuesday.
After missing 113 games with an injury to his right shoulder, he was ready to go and was finally back on the active roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Then, heartbreak set in after he let go of his eighth pitch.He hunched over grabbing his left hamstring. He was fighting back tears and had to be helped off the field by trainer Thomas Albert and third baseman Kiké Hernandez in the top of the sixth inning.
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The Dodgers announced the hamstring strain and manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Wednesday that it’s a Grade 1 strain. Graterol could possibly return this season and Roberts didn’t shut the door on the possibility.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Roberts said. “Brusdar, he’s been so good for us. He’s done a lot of things for us. He’s pitched in a lot of big ballgames for us, postseason games, and he had a tough road back. He spent a lot of time in Arizona and being in rehab and to come back and, third hitter he faced, to blow out, and it was a pretty big blowout.”
The season debut started out well. He got Bryce Harper to pop out and then gave up a single to Alec Bohm before a sinker to J.T. Realmuto sailed over catcher Will Smith’s head.
The nearly 50,000-person crowd was stunned once Graterol motioned to Hernandez that the injury was severe.
Clayton Kershaw is familiar with what Graterol was feeling as he just recently made his way back after a grueling rehab. He also started the game pitching 4.2 innings of one-run ball.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes into coming back and getting on this field and unless you’ve done it, you don’t really know,” said Kershaw. “So we all feel for him. He loves to pitch, he loves to be out there, he loves to be with us. So if this is a season-ender, it’s really hard obviously, but good thing for him is he’s really young, he’s got a really good arm and he’ll be able to bounce back good next year. But it’s definitely a tough night.”
Graterol was seen on crutches in the clubhouse postgame.
The right-hander nicknamed “Bazooka” has been a huge part of the Dodgers bullpen over the last four seasons. He was one of the best relievers in Major League Baseball last season with a 1.20 earned run average over 68 appearances.
