LOS ANGELES — Justin Wrobleski fired his fourth fastball of Friday night and quickly checked the scoreboard for a velocity reading. He had finally found the feeling he had spent so much time searching for during his breakout season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he wanted confirmation.He got it, in the form of a 97.1 mph reading on the pitch Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber couldn’t pull the trigger on for strike three to open the game.Then he fired a fastball at 96.7 mph that clipped the bottom of the strike zone against Trea Turner for another strikeout. And another, down the heart of the plate that Bryce Harper swung through. He struck out the side in the first inning for the first time in his 17 career big-league starts, and said he felt better than he had in any game in his magical start to the season.“I felt back to normal, as opposed to how I’ve been, honestly, all year,” Wrobleski said after a 4-2 win over the Phillies, once again silencing doubts he can stick as a starter in the big leagues and lowering his ERA this season to 2.87 through 62 2/3 innings.
Justin strikes out the side! pic.twitter.com/2W9DPLdSi4
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 30, 2026He’s gotten this far on strike-throwing and prayers once the ball is put in play. His strikeout rate entering Friday was the fourth-lowest of any pitcher with at least 50 innings this season. After sitting at 96 mph with his fastball as a reliever last season, he was down to 93.7 mph in his transition to becoming a starter. It was logical to credit that drop in velocity to the extra workload, but the decrease changed how Wrobleski pitched.Then Wrobleski averaged 94.9 mph with the fastball Friday night, tossing seven brilliant innings. He struck out nine, a career high, and allowed his only hit with two outs in the sixth inning. He didn’t rely on soft contact. Instead, Wrobleski dominated.“It’s a lot more fun, I’ll tell you that much,” said Wrobleski, who is emerging as one of the most fun stories for a club that has now won six in a row and 13 of their last 15 games.Wrobleski thought he found it in the middle of a disastrous outing. He gave up five runs in the first inning a week ago against the Milwaukee Brewers, and in the process of triaging his start and chewing up innings, he threw a fastball that touched 97.7 mph. It was his hardest pitch of the season to date. Something clicked.“I can’t tell you the exact thing,” Wrobleski said Friday. “I don’t really know what exactly it was. But I just felt better today.”Wrobleski held his velocity when he needed to. He touched 97 mph in the Schwarber at-bat in the first inning and reached back for 96 mph in his final inning of work.“It’s just kind of felt like a little bit of a missing piece, just kind of something that I know I have in me, and it would make me better,” Wrobleski said.The Phillies were hard-pressed for an answer, so catcher Will Smith kept calling for heaters from behind the plate. Of Wrobleski’s 88 pitches, 48 were fastballs. All nine of his strikeouts came on four-seamers.“We just didn’t really get on the fastball tonight, as much as anything,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.His pitch usage and attack plan mirrored what made Wrobleski successful as a reliever. When he’s been at his best this season, Wrobleski’s strike-throwing has put his opponents on their heels. At his worst, he was throwing a lot of hittable pitches to opponents, who had combined to put up 14 runs over his last three starts.Having a few extra ticks of velocity helps.“It just gives him way more margin,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who has fielded questions for weeks about how sustainable this approach is with Wrobleski.Getting swings and misses changes the math. You don’t have to worry about what happens after the ball gets put in play when it winds up in the catcher’s mitt. Wrobleski got 16 swings and misses on Friday, more than he’d gotten in any outing of his career.He’s learned how to match his craft with his power. He blew fastballs past Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto to start the fifth inning, then started toying with Brandon Marsh.The Phillies outfielder had tagged Wrobleski for a three-run homer last September, but the left-hander wasn’t cautious with how he attacked him.“I didn’t want him to get me again,” Wrobleski said.Wrobleski flipped a pair of sliders to start the at-bat. Then he shortened his delivery and quick-pitched a fastball that Marsh couldn’t touch, even at 92.6 mph. Then, from a full delivery, he hit 96.3 mph. Marsh swung and missed, and Wrobleski punched out the side for the second time on the night.By then, the watch was on. Wrobleski hadn’t allowed a hit. His pitch count was manageable. He’s been surprising enough this season that even flirting with history wasn’t that shocking.“The way he was pitching,” Max Muncy said, “you kind of had the feeling he might be able to go the distance on it.”The lone hit Wrobleski allowed came on a fastball. He left one out over the plate, at the knees to Schwarber, who clubbed it out to center field for his major league-leading 22nd home run of the season. Wrobleski nodded along as Schwarber watched it fly. The 25-year-old had grown up watching Schwarber hit bombs for the Chicago Cubs and knew he’d been had.“He got me today,” Wrobleski said before retiring the last four batters he faced on the night.It is May 30, and Wrobleski’s 2.87 ERA ranks ninth in the National League, ahead of the likes of Paul Skenes (2.89) and his own teammate, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.09). It is remarkable that he’s done this at all after opening the season in the bullpen. Regression has come for him in recent starts, but now he looks positioned to keep this going.Maybe he’s not coming down to Earth. He could just be getting better.— Matt Gelb contributed to this story.
