Roki Sasaki will miss at least two weeks after a blister on his pitching hand forced him out of the Dodgers' 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

The right-hander's skin "just ripped off" during a fourth-inning at-bat against Ozzie Albies, Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. He had no warning the blister was developing. He lasted 3⅓ innings, surrendering four runs and six hits on 66 pitches before a growing mound gathering — pitching coach Mark Prior, catcher Hunter Feduccia, head athletic trainer Thomas Albert, then manager Dave Roberts — ended his night.

"There's just no way we can avoid it given the severity of the blister," Roberts told reporters, according to the Los Angeles Times. "So we'll give him some time."

The timing stings. Sasaki entered Wednesday with a 2.19 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break, a turnaround from his 5.33 ERA through his first 16 starts. A lower-half mechanical adjustment over the break and what Roberts called greater "conviction" had fueled a dominant second-half run.

Now the Dodgers face a rotation question with the playoffs roughly a month away.

What changes

Roberts said left-hander Eric Lauer will slide back into the rotation, with a reliever added to the roster. Lauer has pitched to a 3.78 ERA in 69 innings this season, per CBS Sports. The Dodgers had already trimmed from a six-man rotation to five after Justin Wrobleski hit the IL with forearm inflammation in mid-August.

For October, the Dodgers need only four starters. The likely quartet: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and a fourth spot contested between Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow. If Sasaki's absence stretches long enough to require a build-up period, the club could move him straight into a bullpen role for the postseason rather than returning him to the rotation.

Ohtani's return timeline

Ohtani, who has not pitched since July 3 because of knee and biceps issues, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Friday in Detroit. Roberts said the team will finalize Ohtani's schedule after that session, with a Sunday return still in play as a super-opener piggybacking with Glasnow.

If Ohtani pitches Sunday, he could make up to five starts before the regular season ends.

The loss

After Sasaki exited, reliever Edgardo Henriquez inherited two baserunners. Both scored when left fielder Teoscar Hernández overran Drake Baldwin's deep fly ball down the line for a go-ahead double. The Dodgers tied it in the seventh but squandered a bases-loaded chance in the eighth. Closer Tanner Scott gave up a walk-off single to pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Kim in the ninth.

The defeat dropped the Dodgers to 80-53. They now trail the first-place Brewers by two games and lead the third-place Braves by just two.

Yamamoto (12-7, 2.61 ERA) starts Thursday's series finale against the Braves at Truist Park, facing Chris Sale (12-9, 2.20 ERA). The Dodgers then travel to Detroit for a weekend series: Skubal on Friday, Snell on Saturday, and the Ohtani-Glasnow combination potentially on Sunday.