LOS ANGELES -- For the first time in the young season, the Dodgers shuffled the arms in their pitching staff, placing righty reliever Ben Casparius on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder and recalling right-hander Kyle Hurt from Triple-A Oklahoma City ahead of Monday night's series opener against the Mets.
Casparius had allowed at least one run in his last three appearances, most recently giving up a pair in one-plus innings against the Rangers in Sunday afternoon's 5-2 loss. He didn't feel right afterward, and after undergoing manual testing on his shoulder, the Dodgers decided to place him on the IL. He's set to have an MRI on his shoulder on Monday.
Manager Dave Roberts did not believe that the shoulder injury affected Casparius before Sunday. Through five appearances, the 27-year-old right-hander struck out four, walked four and gave up five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings (9.64 ERA).
"I think it has some correlation to his second up [on Sunday]" Roberts said. "But as far as before, doubtful."
Hurt's most recent big league appearance was nearly two years ago on April 16, 2024. The 27-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in July of that year and was out for almost all of '25, although he went on a Minor League rehab assignment before the season ended.
In four career outings with the Dodgers from 2023-24, Hurt has allowed just two runs (one earned) in 8 2/3 innings, with six strikeouts against one walk. He will likely be used in low-leverage situations early on to ease him back into MLB action. He's especially tough against right-handed hitters, but the Dodgers see him as a fairly neutral option who can give them more than one inning when the situation calls for it.
Hurt came into this year's Spring Training fully healthy and had a nice camp, but L.A. optioned him to Oklahoma City so that he could, in Roberts' words, get "some wear on his tires" in his first season after Tommy John surgery.
In an ideal world, Hurt probably would have been with the Comets for longer than just six appearances, in which he allowed three earned runs -- all in the same outing -- across 4 2/3 innings (5.79 ERA). But injuries have a way of impacting a team's best-laid plans, and the Dodgers felt that Hurt was the best option to bolster their bullpen.
"I think our thought was to ... build him up a little bit, but things happen," Roberts said. "You got to adapt. He's the beneficiary of things changing. He's a big league pitcher, so he'll be fine."