The Dodgers will place Roki Sasaki on the 15-day injured list, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). The righty left tonight’s start at Truist Park with a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand.

Sasaki had allowed one run over three innings before finding himself in trouble in the fourth. He allowed three of the first four batters to reach, then summoned the training staff. The blister seemingly arose quickly and forced him out of the game. Edgardo Henriquez allowed a couple inherited runners to score — though that was mostly the fault of Teoscar Hernández, who overran a fly ball in left field.

The end result was that Sasaki was charged for four runs across 3 1/3 innings, though he’d looked reasonably sharp until the injury. The second-year big leaguer was among one of the best stretches of his MLB career. Sasaki entered tonight’s outing with a 2.31 ERA while striking out 24% of opponents in six starts since the All-Star Break. This was the first time he’d allowed four runs in an appearance since July 2.

Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the only pitchers who’d held a spot in the L.A. rotation all year. They’re tied for the team lead with 23 starts. Sasaki is third on the club behind Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski in innings pitched.

Roberts confirmed that Eric Lauer will move right back into the starting staff (via Jack Harris of The California Post). The southpaw had held a rotation spot since the Dodgers acquired him from Toronto in May. He just moved to the bullpen Tuesday night with Tyler Glasnow returning from injury.

Yamamoto is tabbed for tomorrow’s series finale against the Braves, where he’ll oppose Chris Sale in an elite pitching matchup. There’s no less intrigue on Friday, as Tarik Skubal takes on his old team to open a series at Comerica Park. Blake Snell will start Saturday with Glasnow lined up for the weekend finale. The Dodgers could have Shohei Ohtani open in front of Glasnow, as he’ll soon start building up his workload after a knee issue halted his pitching for two months. Lauer wouldn’t be slated to start until a week from now against the Cardinals.

Los Angeles has dropped the first two games of an entertaining series with the Braves. Ha-Seong Kim walked off Tanner Scott on Kim’s first hit since he was activated from the injured list three weeks ago. That pulled Atlanta to within two games of the 80-53 Dodgers as the teams jostle for a first-round bye. L.A. is two games back of the #1 seed Brewers and has lost the season series to both Milwaukee and Atlanta, giving those clubs the tiebreakers.

Sasaki will be out of action until at least September 11. Returning after a minimal stint would leave just over two weeks before the end of the regular season. A blister isn’t an especially worrisome issue long term but has a variable enough recovery window that it may impact his readiness for the postseason. Sasaki seems likely to end up in the playoff bullpen if each of Yamamoto, Skubal, Snell and Glasnow are healthy. It’s the second straight year in which the Dodgers’ biggest question is whether they’ll have a reliable enough back of the ‘pen to win another championship.