With Clayton Kershaw sidelined, Dodgers’ depth will be tested yet again

Ross Stripling was walking off the field at Monterrey Stadium on Saturday afternoon when a Dodgers staffer pulled him aside.

During an 11-game, seven-loss, four-injury road trip, Stripling operated as a Zelig-esque figure when it came to major calamity. He rooms with Corey Seager, so he knew the trouble caused by the shortstop’s right elbow, which required season-ending surgery on Friday. A day after Seager went under the knife, Stripling became one of the first Dodgers to learn of Clayton Kershaw’s damaged left arm.

Stripling heard the news because the team needed him to start on one day’s notice in Sunday’s series finale. The Dodgers reconfigured their rotation to paper over Kershaw’s absence.

“Dang,” Stripling said a day later, after four scoreless innings in a loss to San Diego. “Dominoes keep falling for us. Hopefully it’s nothing serious … in 10 days, two weeks, whatever, he’ll back. But obviously, he’s someone we need.”

The list of essential Dodgers is small. Under the leadership of president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, the Dodgers strive to fortify their roster with enough redundancy to handle the absence of almost any individual. The team won the National League West in 2016 and 2017 despite losing Kershaw to lengthy stints on the disabled list in each season.

Yet with Kershaw sidelined yet again, this time with biceps tendinitis, the Dodgers (15-19) have reached a crisis. Justin Turner has yet to play a game this season. Seager will not play another game this season. Hyun-Jin Ryu is sidelined until after the All-Star break with a severe groin strain. And now Kershaw will miss an undetermined amount of time with an injury that can foreshadow shoulder damage.

The team hopes to activate Rich Hill, Yasiel Puig and Logan Forsythe from the disabled list this week. Yet as a two-game series with division-leading Arizona begins on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers are reeling. They trail the Diamondbacks by eight games in the division, and have fallen to them seven times in 10 meetings. At this stage in the season, the losses outnumber the injuries — but not by much.

“We keep getting, I feel like, punched right in the nose,” Turner said. “But we need to find ways to dig in and win ballgames.”

Even before the recent avalanche of injuries, the Dodgers were playing sluggish, dispirited baseball. As a team, they do not do anything particularly well. The offense ranks 25th in the majors in home runs and 14th in on-base plus slugging percentage with runners in scoring position. The starting pitchers rank 16th in innings pitched and the relievers rank 20th in earned-run average. They are what their record says they are.

Kershaw had pitched below his usual elevated standard in 2018. His fastball velocity had dipped. He gave up seven home runs in seven outings. But he remained effective, one of the few Dodgers pitchers capable of completing seven innings in one start.

With Kershaw and Ryu on the mend, the Dodgers have installed Stripling and top pitching prospect Walker Buehler into the rotation. Buehler has been excellent through his first three starts, with a 1.13 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 16 innings. Buehler logged six innings in Friday’s combined no-hitter.

Buehler alone will not be a panacea. The Dodgers intend to monitor his innings and have said they will not alter that plan based on the needs of the 2018 season. Buehler is unlikely to throw much more than 150 innings, a protective measure in deference to the elbow ligament reconstruction he underwent in 2015. As Buehler approaches his limit, the team will need to find creative ways to keep him available for October — if the Dodgers can return to the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

“We do have depth,” Friedman said. “You’ve seen it with [outfield prospect Alex] Verdugo coming up, and doing what he’s done. And Walker Buehler, and various guys that have stepped up some. We need to sync up the various components of our roster better. And some of these guys, we will be getting back soon.”

Kershaw could be one of those to return relatively quickly. The Dodgers rarely disclose timetables for injured players, and respect Kershaw’s demand for privacy about his medical issues. In a two-sentence statement released Sunday evening, the team said that an MRI conducted by Dr. Neal ElAttrache “confirmed” the initial diagnosis and that Kershaw would begin his rehabilitation program on Monday.

Until then, Stripling will remain among the starters. Stripling is schedule to take the baseball again this weekend against Cincinnati. He threw 68 pitches in his outing on Sunday, and hoped to expand his pitch count to 90 for his next start.

Stripling, a 28-year-old right-hander, broke camp as a member of the rotation in 2016. Across the past three seasons, he is 3-7 as a starter with a 4.26 ERA. He has held a hybrid role for much of his tenure as a Dodger, providing multiple innings as a reliever while waiting for opportunities to start. His latest opportunity is here.

“I’ll prepare like I used to, and get a scouting report going,” Stripling said. “And I’ll be ready for hopefully five or more innings, and be able to get deeper into games. I’m looking forward to it. This is the kind of stuff I’ve been working for.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes