All signs point to Stephen Fife starting Sunday for Dodgers

The Dodgers haven't made any kind of announcement yet, but all signs point to Stephen Fife starting the final game of the series against the Marlins on Sunday in Miami. Fife would make a spot start in place of Hyun-jin Ryu, who was placed on the disabled list on Friday with inflammation in his right shoulder.

Manager Don Mattingly on Saturday didn't dispute speculation that Fife would start Sunday, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

The other options on the 40-man roster, Matt Magill and Red Patterson, both pitched Thursday, Magill for Triple-A Albuquerque and Patterson in his major league debut for the Dodgers.

Even if the Dodgers were thinking of somehow adding either Zach Lee or Chris Reed to the 40-man roster for Sunday's spot start, that is out of the question since both pitched Friday night, Lee for Albuquerque and Reed for Double-A Chattanooga.

Fife is 1-2 with a 7.08 ERA with Triple-A Albuquerque this season, but he has been improving of late. He threw six scoreless innings in his last start, April 26 at Fresno, and pitched a scoreless in ning of relief on Wednesday, though he has struck out just two of 26 batters during those two appearances.

Fife made 10 starts for the Dodgers in 2013, and put up a 3.86 ERA with 45 strikeouts and 20 walks in 58⅓ innings. After a bizarre move to the bullpen last August with the Isotopes, Fife's season went downhill. In his final eight appearance of the season - five in the minors, three in the majors - Fife had an 11.57 ERA with 22 walks and 11 strikeouts in 21 innings.

It has been a busy transactional week for the Dodgers, who had Red Patterson make his major league debut on Thursday in Minnesota. When the Dodgers activate Clayton Kershaw for Tuesday's game in Washington D.C., the club will have used eight different starting pitchers in a nine-game span.