Seemingly inspired by the Tampa Bay Rays' revolutionary pitching strategy, the Los Angeles Dodgers will use a reliever to start Friday's game at Coors Field, where left-hander Scott Alexander - who's never made a big-league start - will "open" against the Colorado Rockies.

Dennis Santana, the 22-year-old right-hander newly promoted from Triple-A, will follow Alexander, who will likely have to navigate through at least left-handed-hitting Charlie Blackmon, either right-handed-hitting Noel Cuevas or left-handed-hitting David Dahl, and right-handed-hitting Nolan Arenado in the bottom of the first.

Alexander last pitched Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies and has recorded more than three outs in just four of his 20 appearances this season. The 28-year-old hasn't logged more than 2 2/3 innings in an outing since May 15, 2016, when he was a member of the Kansas City Royals.

This May, the Rays made waves when they had veteran reliever Sergio Romo make an abbreviated start against the Los Angeles Angels, who tend to stack the top of their batting order with right-handed hitters, and then brought him back to start the following day.

"It's an opportunity to help my team out in a different situation, in a different inning, but with the same concept," Romo told USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz of his new role. "The concept in our job is to get outs, regardless of the inning. It's fun that it's the beginning and I’m all for it. If they think I help the team out best doing this, OK, let's do it. If they think in another form or fashion, I'm in.'