Dodgers fans exhale after Tyler Glasnow injury scare ends up being false alarm

We're coming to expect great things out of Tyler Glasnow every time he takes the mound and, aside from a grim eight-hit, six-run start on April 15, he's making it clear that he's the Dodgers' undisputed ace. His start on Saturday against the Blue Jays was excellent; through six innings, he'd only given up a single hit, but in the bottom of the seventh, some trouble arrived.

Glasnow walked Danny Jansen, then gave up a double to Davis Schneider to score the Jays' first run of the game. After the play, Glasnow was caught on camera shaking his right hand and wincing in pain, which immediately set off a few alarm bells. Dave Roberts came to the mound to take the ball, and he brought a trainer with him — more alarm bells.

Joe Kelly came into the game in relief and promptly shut down Toronto's hitters, but Glasnow went straight into the tunnel when he came out. It was a perfect sequence if the Dodgers were trying to worry fans, who have had to deal with more unforeseen pitching injuries to start this season than they'd like.

However, Glasnow and Roberts were quick to clarify after the game: he was dealing with cramping in his hand and calf, which he attributed to the humidity in the Rogers Centre. Neither expected it to be a problem going forward.

Tyler Glasnow exited his last Dodgers start in visible discomfort, but the issue turned out to be minor

The Dodgers pitching staff sort of feels like it's held together by duct tape at the moment, which makes Glasnow's steady presence even more important. He's pitched the most innings of any Dodgers starter by far (43 through seven starts versus Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 28 through six starts), as both Yamamoto and James Paxton are getting extra time between starts to rest and recuperate/stay on routine. Ryan Yarbrough has logged the third most innings of any Dodgers pitcher almost solely because of how often LA has had to turn to bullpen games.

Glasnow's fine, and everything's okay, but it was still a deeply uncomfortable hour or so from his exit to the postgame, when we received confirmation that he was fine. Losing Glasnow is absolute worst-case scenario stuff for the Dodgers, who are already visibly scrambling after the losses of Emmet Sheehan and Bobby Miller from the rotation and Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, and now Kyle Hurt from the bullpen. Some of that pressure may come off when Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw both return to the team, but for now they literally can't afford to lose Glasnow.