Nicasio at night: Juan at one with relieving

By Jon Weisman

Juan Nicasio’s first Major League save might be his last for a while now that Kenley Jansen is back, but let’s take a moment to appreciate how useful the new Dodger reliever has been.

The converted starter has a 1.02 ERA in 17 2/3 innings this season with 25 strikeouts (12.7 per nine innings) and only nine hits allowed. Since taking the extra-inning loss April 23 at San Francisco, Nicasio has pitched 10 1/3 consecutive shutout innings with 15 strikeouts, allowing two singles and four walks. He stranded three of four inherited runners in that time.

Showing his versatility, Nicasio is the third Dodger in the past 10 years to have a three-inning relief win and a separate save in the same year, after Chan Ho Park in 2008 and Chris Withrow in 2013. And just to play off the headline, opponents have a .115 slugging percentage in night games against Nicasio so far this year.

In his rookie season, Nicasio a fractured vertebra in his neck after taking a line drive to the head on August 5, 2011, and was a mixed bag as a starting pitcher thereafter. He is still only 28 years old, and having been liberated from Colorado’s Coors Field, has done little to discourage his future prospects as a reliever.

Footnote: Four Dodgers have saves this year, and Kenley Jansen figures to soon become the fifth, but that’s not close to a record. In 1979, 11 Dodgers had saves, led by Bobby Castillo with seven. Don Sutton, Jerry Reuss and Bob Welch each had at least one complete game and one save.