LOS ANGELES -- With the Dodgers' rotation depth wearing thin, Emmet Sheehan made a strong case to extend his stay in the big leagues.
In his first start for L.A. since August, Sheehan tied his career high with 10 strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Reds on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. He was the pitcher of record in the Dodgers' series-opening 6-3 victory, their fifth straight win.
Before Sheehan was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City, L.A. had only four fully built-up starting pitchers on the active roster: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, the projected members of their postseason rotation.
Having those four arms healthy is key for the Dodgers, but with Roki Sasaki and Eric Lauer on the IL -- and Shohei Ohtani unlikely to pitch again this season -- they have a clear need at the back end of their rotation in order to get through the final month of the regular season.
Manager Dave Roberts was hopeful that Sheehan could help fill that need, and the right-hander delivered in his first start back.
Sheehan began the season in the Dodgers' rotation, going 4-8 with a 5.29 ERA in 20 starts while dealing with persistent delivery issues that made it difficult to maintain the quality of his stuff over the course of an outing. He was optioned to Triple-A on Aug. 3 and went on to record a 1.50 ERA (three earned runs in 18 innings) in four starts with Oklahoma City.
On Monday, Sheehan surrendered a solo homer to his second batter, Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, but settled in to retire 14 in a row. He recorded two outs in the sixth inning but loaded the bases on two hits and a walk before being lifted in favor of southpaw Alex Vesia, who stranded all three runners.
By that point, the Dodgers' bats had broken through after being held hitless through four innings by the Reds' Chase Burns-Brandon Williamson piggyback. They gave Sheehan a lead to work with when Miguel Rojas reached on an error that brought home two runs in the fifth inning. Teoscar Hernández padded the score with a three-run blast off Williamson in the sixth, and Will Smith tacked on another run on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth.