Dodgers’ injuries continue as Teoscar Hernández strains hamstring during sweep of Rockies
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The Dodgers’ recent string of injuries continued Wednesday when left fielder Teoscar Hernández pulled up limping after trying to beat out a grounder to shortstop.
Once he was thrown out in the second inning of the Dodgers’ 4-1 win against the Colorado Rockies, Hernández took his time walking across the field back to the dugout.
He sustained a left hamstring strain and is headed to the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said after the game. Hernández, after undergoing preliminary testing Wednesday, was scheduled for imaging Thursday. The Dodgers planned to recall outfield/first base prospect Ryan Ward, a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly confirmed Thursday morning.
“Don’t know how severe it is; he tested well,” Roberts said of Hernández. “...There’s just no timeline, but something like that obviously is going to be a few weeks at the minimum. Disappointing. He’s been playing so well and he’s a big part of what we’re doing. So to lose him for any length of time is not great.”
The Dodgers place utility man Kiké Hernández on the injured list after an MRI exam shows a “significant tear” in his left oblique. How will Alex Freeland and Hyeseong Kim fill in?
This series, as results went, was a success for the Dodgers. They swept the Rockies, outscoring Colorado 24-10 over three games. Shohei Ohtani threw six no-hit innings in the series finale. But the injury losses dealt a blow.
Earlier this month, the Dodgers’ pitching rotation bore the brunt of the injury bug. But recently, it has spread. Over the last week, three position players have left games because of injuries.
Last Friday in Milwaukee, third baseman Max Muncy was hit in the wrist by a pitch and sidelined for three games.
Utility player Kiké Hernández made his season debut Monday, after starting the season on the injured list while recovering from offseason surgery on his left elbow, and helped fill in for Muncy’s temporary absence. But Hernández logged just four at-bats before landing on the IL again, lifted from Tuesday’s game because of a strained left oblique.
Even after injuring his oblique in batting practice Monday, Hernández went four for four with two doubles and a home run as he played through the injury.
Teoscar Hernández’s hamstring strain also came in the midst of a hot offensive stretch. Entering Wednesday, he had a 1.072 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in his last 13 games.
In his absence, Ward, who made his major-league debut last month in Colorado, can join a left-field platoon. He has a pair of hits in six at-bats. As a left-handed batter, he pairs well with right-handed-hitting Alex Call. The Athletic was the first to report his impending call-up.
And utility player Hyeseong Kim, who replaced Teoscar Hernández in left field Wednesday, could continue to factor into the outfield mix, Roberts said.
Both Call and Kim made tough catches Wednesday. Call, giving right fielder Kyle Tucker a day off, laid out to rob Troy Johnston of a hit in the second inning, preserving Ohtani’s no-hit bid. And Kim reached over the retaining wall to turn Willi Castro’s long foul ball in the seventh inning into an out.
Ohtani also was pulled from the Dodgers’ blowout win Tuesday after he was hit on the right hand by a changeup. But that had more to do with the score, an opportunity to get Dalton Rushing more at-bats, and getting Ohtani ready for his start on the mound Wednesday.
For the second week in a row, Ohtani was batting while pitching. And for the second start in a row, he gave himself run support with a leadoff home run.
This time, the ball jumped off his bat at an exit velocity of 111.3 mph, according to Statcast, landing on the netting beyond the center-field wall.
His pitching performance was less straightforward. He held the Rockies hitless through six innings. But he still gave up a run, thanks to a total of five free passes (four walks and a hit batter).
Two of them set up the Rockies’ scoring opportunity. With runners on first and third in the fourth inning, Castro hit a grounder to the right side of the infield, pulling first baseman Freddie Freeman away from the base.
But second baseman Alex Freeland, recalled Wednesday when Kiké Hernández went on the IL, ranged to his left to field it and dove to first base with the ball, beating Castro to the bag for the second out. Ohtani acknowledged Freeland with a point of his hand.
When Dodgers left-hander Eric Lauer was 20, Mark Prior was the first big leaguer to give him advice about pitching.
A run scored, but Freeland’s hustle set up Ohtani to get out of the inning without further damage.
“I have to give credit to our defense,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “They really set the tone today. Just command was off, and I just felt like I was battling the lack of it, and frustration.”
The Dodgers held the Rockies hitless until the eighth inning, when Tyler Freeman hit a two-out, ground-ball single through the right side off reliever Tanner Scott. Right-hander Kyle Hurt earned the first save of his career.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers scored almost all their runs on homers, with Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages adding solo blasts after Ohtani, and Alex Call contributing an RBI single.
