Baez looks to regain form in return to bullpen

September 7th, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- rejoined the Dodgers on Tuesday after a stint with Double-A Tulsa, but whether the right-hander can regain the form he showed in July remains to be seen. The addition gives the Dodgers 33 players on their active roster.
He took the mound to start the seventh inning of Tuesday night's 5-2 win over the D-backs and worked around a double in a scoreless frame.
"I talked to him a little bit today and he said he was in a good place mentally," manager Dave Roberts said. "I'm looking forward to getting him into a game and just seeing how he's responded to being down in Tulsa, [getting] less usage, kind of resetting."

After going the entire month of July without allowing a run, Baez started struggling. He registered a 7.50 ERA in August and his sometimes glacial pace returned, with one appearance against the Cubs on Aug. 27 requiring 27 minutes to face five batters.
He was optioned to Tulsa on Aug. 30, but didn't appear in a game. He instead worked through side sessions to try to regain his command. He was eligible to return after Tulsa's season ended on Monday.
"For him, it was just more of fastball command and working on that changeup, because I think his changeup the last three weeks has been a ball out of his hand," Roberts said.
Also joining the Dodgers from Tulsa was Wednesday starter . Stewart was optioned last week but will make his first MLB start since shutting down the Cubs over five innings on Aug. 28.
The last time Stewart played for Tulsa, he held a 1.12 ERA in 56 1/3 innings as he continued an ascent that began this season at Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga and ended in the big leagues.
"Basically I was just back on their team. It was like a blast from the past, I was only there two and a half months ago," Stewart said.
All 44 lockers in the Dodgers' clubhouse are now full with the addition of Baez and Stewart.
Worth noting
's timeline to return to the Dodgers is fluid after another rough outing with Rancho on Saturday in which he pitched just two of five scheduled innings and allowed five earned runs.
He pitched Monday with a band-aid over his blister and Roberts said he would need another rehab appearance before returning. However, the team doesn't know when that would be because of how hard it is to predict recoveries with blisters, as they learned last month with .
"I think that the player wants to know his fate in the short term and we do as well," Roberts said." With a blister, it's something that you've got to be flexible. With Rich, we've learned that you have to be flexible and I think that it's benefited him. With Brett, I think it's the same thing."
• After throwing off a mound on Monday for the first time since his July elbow debridement surgery, will throw another bullpen session on Friday and face live hitters Monday. He plans to face hitters in back-to-back days on Thursday and Friday of next week, with a return to the bullpen as a lefty specialist coming soon after that.