LOS ANGELES -- After playing 17 innings on Sunday, the Dodgers on Monday recalled pitchers Mike Bolsinger and Luis Avilan from Triple-A Oklahoma City, optioned Ross Stripling to OKC and placed Chin-Hui Tsao on the 15-day disabled list with a right triceps strain.
Unless pressed into emergency service on Monday night against the Reds at Dodger Stadium, Bolsinger will start against Cincinnati on Tuesday night in place of Stripling, who was the eighth reliever used in Sunday's 9-5 victory, working the final three innings and picking up the win.
Stripling, who made the Opening Day roster unexpectedly as the fifth starter because of injuries to Bolsinger and Brandon Beachy, was told on Monday that an in-season demotion was "part of the plan all along" to "curtail" his innings in his first full season after 2014 Tommy John surgery.
"It's a bummer, because you want to be in the big leagues," said Stripling, who said he believes his innings limit is around 150. "The way they handled this was great. I'm good with it, it works for me. I've got to believe them."
Bolsinger was sent down to OKC on Thursday, one day after being recalled as a sixth starter and pitching 4 1/3 innings in a loss to the Angels. Normally a player sent down is frozen for 10 days, but Bolsinger is exempt because he is taking the place on the roster of an injured player, Tsao, who came up with then-unspecified "soreness" Sunday morning after walking in the decisive run in Saturday night's 3-2 loss.
Manager Dave Roberts said Bolsinger could make a second start next week or provide a multiple-inning, curveball-throwing contrast out of a hard-throwing bullpen. With a day off Thursday, Roberts said next week's rotation would be determined based on pitcher usage in the upcoming games.
"It's a day-to-day thing, depending on where we're at," Roberts said.
Avilan is needed because the bullpen was taxed over the past week in general and Sunday in particular, as J.P. Howell and Louis Coleman pitched each of the past three games and four of the last five.
Roberts also said Yasmani Grandal's right ankle is improved, but A.J. Ellis was catching Clayton Kershaw on Monday anyway. Grandal has a bruise after fouling a pitch off the top of his foot Saturday night.