Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander River Ryan will need Tommy John surgery for the elbow injury he sustained on Saturday during his fourth major league start.
The Dodgers announced on Tuesday that Ryan will have the ligament-replacement surgery next week. The team had already said that Ryan would miss the rest of this season. This surgery will probably keep him out for most, if not all, of 2025 as well.
“We were holding out hope,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee. “But unfortunately, he’s got to get the surgery.
“But I think, even when you talk to River, he’s been through trials and knows how to handle it mentally,” Roberts said. “He’s going to miss being with the guys.
But this is surgery that they’ve got a pretty good handle on it, and so we expect a full recovery. It’s just really disappointing.”
The 25-year-old Ryan went 1-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four starts for Los Angeles this season. He had a 0-0 record with a 2.22 ERA in eight minor league starts.
After the Dodgers’ 4-1 win at Pittsburgh on Saturday, Ryan said he started to feel tightness in his forearm in the third inning. He was taken out of the game in the fifth inning.
Right-hander Walker Buehler, who has been on the injured list since June 19 with right hip inflammation, is set to return and start Wednesday against the Brewers.
“We’ve got Walker tomorrow and Jack (Flaherty) is going on the day game (Thursday),” Roberts said.
Buehler, 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts this season with the Dodgers, made three rehab starts at Triple-A Oklahoma City while on the injured list. In his most recent minor league start, Buehler allowed one run on one hit in 5 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking three.
Buehler missed all of the 2023 major league season while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. Before being activated in early May this season, he last pitched for the Dodgers on June 10, 2022, against the Giants.
