Noah Syndergaard placed on injured list, Dodgers recall Tayler Scott

The Dodgers on Thursday placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the injured list with a blister on his right index finger, an expected move that makes room in the starting rotation for Julio Urías, who is expected to be activated to start Sunday in Philadelphia.

For now, Tayler Scott is back in the bullpen, recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City after getting optioned on Tuesday. That gives the Dodgers bullpen nine relievers for a few days after pitching parts of 10 innings in the first two games against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Syndergaard allowed six runs in three innings on Wednesday, raising his ERA to 7.16 in 12 starts. Manager Dave Roberts signaled to reporters after the game that an injured-list move was coming.

“He understands it’s about performance. I think we’re going to sit down with him and try to figure out if this is something that — obviously I don’t think that we can kind of sustain this pace of performance,” Roberts said, per SportsNet LA. “It might be an opportunity to give him a chance to kind of get this finger thing taken care of, a reset, because it certainly, in my opinion, is impeding performance.”

On Thursday morning, Roberts told reporters Syndergaard flew back to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers have lost the first two games to the Reds in walk-off fashion, blowing a five-run lead on Tuesday and squandering a four-run lead on Wednesday. They already have eight losses this season (24-8) when scoring six or more runs, one more loss than the previous two seasons combined (119-7).