When the phone rang, a dozen heads turned in confusion. On the mound on Saturday night, Dodgers starter Rich Hill was spinning perfection. Inside the bullpen, Ross Stripling and the rest of the relievers felt perplexed when the dugout phoned after the sixth inning.
“We got the call, and we were like, ‘What could that possibly be?’” Stripling said. “And then they said something about the blister. And we were like ‘Oh [shoot].’ It sucks, man.”
On Sunday morning, a little more than 12 hours after Dave Roberts chose to remove Hill after seven spotless innings, the dejection inside the clubhouse was still apparent.