Just one day after ace Clayton Kershaw declared this season as "World Series or bust" for the Dodgers, Los Angeles took a hit to its rotation after pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu left his start early Wednesday night due to injury.
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Ryu left Wednesday night's game against the Atlanta Braves with a strained right gluteal muscle during the team's eventual loss to the Atlanta Braves and could end up on the disabled list.
The team will have Ryu undergo an evaluation with team doctors to see if he needs to be placed on the disabled list, but for now it at least appears unlikely that he makes his next start on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres.
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"I don't feel his chances are very good of pitching on his turn," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told ESPN Los Angeles.
Ryu faced Braves outfielder B.J. Upton with a full-count in the sixth inning and immediately gestured toward the Dodgers' dugout after firing the 3-2 offering which led to an Upton walk. Ryu left the game with an apparent limp after a trainer, Ryu's interpreter and Mattingly met with him on the mound.
"I felt it about four pitches before I walked him, but I thought it was nothing serious and I could pitch through it," Ryu said through an interpreter. "It just kept getting worse and worse. I kind of regret I didn't stop right then."
The Dodgers already have Josh Beckett on the disabled list, and they brought in veteran Kevin Correia, who may take Ryu's Tuesday start if he can't go. Ryu had won four straight decisions before taking the loss on Wednesday night.
This injury came not long after Kershaw said that the Dodgers are well equipped to win the World Series this season.
"I think it was almost like that last year, too," Kershaw said on ESPN Radio Tuesday about 2013's trip to the NLCS. "Coming up short didn't feel good, and now we have that experience of what it's like to go deep and not win. Especially with the team we have now and the guys brought in from last year, we feel like it's World Series or bust, for sure."
Ryu, 26, emerged on the scene with a solid campaign in 2013 and the South Korean southpaw is 13-6 in 23 starts this season with a 3.28 ERA, 1.187 WHIP and 122 strikeouts.
Los Angeles enters Wednesday's matinee game with the Braves with a 69-53 record and five-game cushion over the second place San Francisco Giants as the Dodgers seek their second straight National League West division crown.
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