MIAMI -- Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu threw a simulated game on the Marlins Park mound prior to the Dodgers opening a three-game series against the Marlins on Friday. According to manager Dave Roberts, Ryu went four innings on 58 pitches.
The Dodgers placed Ryu on the 10-day disabled list on July 1 with a left foot contusion. He hasn't pitched since a June 28 no-decision against the Angels. This is the second trip to the DL this season for Ryu. He also missed time from May 1-11 with a left hip contusion.
"He really looked sharp," said Roberts, who added that Ryu's return is still unknown. "I don't know when we're going to drop him in, but it'll be at some point. That's a conversation that we're going to have with him and try to see what makes sense for our ballclub."
That likely won't be on the current five-game, six-day road trip, which continues in Chicago for a pair of games with the White Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Unlikely on this road trip," is how Roberts put it.
It is also uncertain as to whether Ryu returns to the starting rotation or works out of the bullpen.
"That I can't tell you," Roberts said. "I think he wants to start, and we want to get him dropped back in as a starter, but if a situation presents itself that we need him out of the bullpen, I know that he would be open to helping us in that capacity."
Ryu has started 13 games this season, going 3-6 with a 4.46 ERA. He has made one relief appearance, a May 25 outing against St. Louis in which he threw four innings of shutout ball on two hits. It was his only stint out of the bullpen over his four-year Major League career.
However, given that the Dodgers' starters have a Major League-low 3.24 ERA, squeezing back into the rotation isn't a given.
"Ideally, for him and for us, it would be as a starter," Roberts said. "But with the way things have gone, with the starting pitching that we have, it would be hard to be exact in our prediction."