Sheehan's 6 no-hit innings in debut a spark amid disappointing loss

LOS ANGELES -- Less than a week ago, Emmet Sheehan found out he was being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. What he didn’t know, however, was that his next start would come at Dodger Stadium.

Because of the Dodgers’ current starting pitching problems, the organization decided to take a chance on Sheehan, a 23-year-old right-hander who was making quite the leap from Double-A Tulsa to the Majors.

Sheehan seized every bit of the opportunity, striking out three over six hitless innings in the Dodgers’ 7-5 loss in 11 innings to the Giants on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Sheehan became just the third pitcher in MLB history to not allow a hit over at least six innings in his big league debut.

“I was just trying to go out there and make it the same game it is in Double-A, which it is. That’s what everyone told me to do,” Sheehan said. “To have the Dodgers fans and my family behind me here at the game, I couldn’t have asked for a better debut, besides a Dodgers win.”

Pulling a pitcher with a no-hitter is something manager Dave Roberts has had to do in the past. In 2016, Ross Stripling, also in his Major League debut, tossed 7 1/3 hitless innings before getting pulled.

In Sheehan’s situation, the youngster was already at 89 pitches. They were also high-stress pitches given that he fell behind in some counts and worked his way back in almost all of them. At this point in his career, the Dodgers didn’t want to push Sheehan, especially since it would’ve required a lot more pitches to get through three additional innings.

“It was a pretty easy decision,” Roberts said. “I was actually contemplating it after five innings, given his usage that he’s had, but given the state of the bullpen, I was trying to squeeze another inning. To get him through the sixth inning, I thought, was huge. He wasn’t going to finish the game. As a fan, you hope for that. But that wasn’t going to happen in any universe.”

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, a struggling bullpen blew yet another game, allowing seven runs over the final six frames of the game. Brusdar Graterol, Victor González, Tayler Scott and Alex Vesia in particular, really struggled in relief.

“I liked the guys that we had, I really did,” Roberts said. “We had a couple guys that were down tonight, but because Emmet went six innings, I felt we had the right guys to finish the game.”

Calling up Sheehan was an aggressive move for the Dodgers, considering the right-hander was skipping Triple-A. But Sheehan went 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA in Double-A, striking out 88 batters over 53 1/3 innings.

While in the Minors, scouts raved about Sheehan’s powerful fastball. That pitch did not disappoint on Friday as 62 of the 89 pitches Sheehan threw were heaters, all ranging between 95 and 98 mph.

“I was definitely really nervous the couple days leading up to it, but once I got out there, it all faded away,” Sheehan said. “I think after the first couple innings, realizing I can get outs here. … It was definitely a confidence builder, for sure.”

As Sheehan said, the only thing that would’ve made his debut sweeter would’ve been if the Dodgers came out on top. He did everything -- and more -- but more bullpen struggles and two uncharacteristic mistakes from Mookie Betts, including running into an out during a crazy play in the 11th, ultimately sank the Dodgers.

But even in the midst of what was another tough loss, the Dodgers walked out with optimism because of Sheehan’s performance. The young right-hander will get another crack at a big league start next weekend against the Astros.

Los Angeles has been looking for pitchers to step up during this run. They haven’t been afraid to throw out young pitchers and see where they stack up. For one night, even during another disappointing loss, Sheehan served as a much-needed spark.

“It was super impressive,” Betts said. “You hear a lot, you see him on the Jumbotron when they talk about people in the Minor Leagues. For him to come up and have some success, I think that’s huge for his morale and huge for us. We need it.”