Many fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers were pleasantly surprised on Friday when it was announced that superstar Shohei Ohtani would take the mound against the Baltimore Orioles.

After Ohtani wasn’t feeling well enough to pitch on Wednesday, and right-hander Emmet Sheehan took the hill, it seemed that Ohtani wouldn’t be throwing for another few days, but manager Dave Roberts revealed that Tyler Glasnow was dealing with back tightness and had to be scratched. The three-time MVP tossed five strikeouts over 3.2 innings, allowing three hits, a walk, and no earned runs.

Roberts spoke on the injury his pitcher was going through ahead of the game, and the decision to start the future Hall of Famer over Glasnow.

“Coming into [Friday], early this afternoon, Tyler reported having back tightness,” Roberts said. “To not kind of tempt fate we just figured with back tightness and with the back – the hope is we push him back a few days and he can make a start early next week. We just didn’t want to put him in harm’s way. And Shohei was up to it, feels good physically and want[ed] the ball tonight.”

Ahead of Glasnow’s first-career All-Star selection last year, and throwing a 3.47 ERA across his first 18 starts in a Dodgers uniform, he was shelved on the injured list with lower back tightness. It was just about two weeks on the injured list for the right-hander, but at this point in the season, it isn’t worth risking the health of a key rotational arm.

“I think it’s more just trusting the player, knowing that he wants to be out there, feeling like we got ahead of it early. And it’s not something where we got to the point where he’s hurt or anything like that. It’s back stiffness. So we feel that to not take this start will allow him to be able to start hopefully early next week.”

Roberts revealed the plan is for the right-hander to start during the Dodgers’ upcoming series against the Colorado Rockies, which is certainly good news for a starting rotation that’s dealt with injuries for much of the season.

Glasnow has a 3.02 ERA since returning from his most recent IL stint (that sidelined him for a little over two months), but has given up three earned runs in his last two outings. Perhaps giving him the extra rest to start September will translate to better results in October.