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- Top prospect Josue De Paula showed calm, polished at-bats in his major-league debut in Miami, working counts and flashing his speed in the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins.
- Blake Snell extended his dominant post-surgery run and Kyle Tucker fell a double shy of the cycle, hitting a grand slam.
- With Shohei Ohtani on the injured list, the Dodgers hope to give De Paula a chance to showcase some of his skills at the plate.
MIAMI — Top Dodgers prospect Josue De Paula wasn’t going to be overwhelmed by the moment. Manager Dave Roberts was quite sure of that.
“He’s gonna swing at strikes, take balls, put together good at-bats,” Roberts said before De Paula made his major league debut Friday in the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins.
Sure enough, when De Paula stepped into the batter’s box at Loan Depot Park, he wasn’t tempted to swing at the first-pitch curveball that dipped below the zone. He didn’t bite on the slider that missed high and outside.
He forced Marlins starter Ryan Gusto to throw into the zone. And after De Paula had worked a full count, swinging at a pair of fastballs and fouling off the second, he sent a slider to right field.
By not putting Shohei Ohtani on the injured list in July or in August, the Dodgers may have compromised the two-way star’s ability to be healthy for the playoffs.
Though it was a flyout, the moment was momentous: De Paula had completed his first major league at-bat.
“I always had it in the back of my mind it could happen,” De Paula said of making his debut this year. “But I never tried to think too much about it. But when it did happen, I wasn’t really thinking about it because we really only had about four days left before the [double-A] season ends. So I was just thinking — four days, playoffs and then go home.”
Instead, the Dodgers selected De Paula’s contract from double-A Tulsa and put Shohei Ohtani on the 15-day injured list. To clear room on the 40-man roster, they transferred left-hander Eric Lauer from the 15-day IL to the 60-day.
The Dodgers (90-57) don’t have a more specific diagnosis for Ohtani’s right biceps injury, Roberts said. The team simply listed it as inflammation. And that lack of clarity makes it difficult to map out his return.
“We’re really going off of how he feels,” Roberts said. “And I think there’s a good amount of communication going on, which led us to the IL, given how he’s felt. And then going forward, take a few days [off] from swinging the bat, and then let’s sort of reevaluate in the coming days and see what works.”
In the meantime, De Paula will get a chance to show what he can do with his bat. Roberts envisioned the rookie serving as the designated hitter for all three games against the Marlins (72-76).
De Paula estimated that 15 people, including his parents, attended his debut. They watched the Dodgers trim their magic number to clinch the division to four.
Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who hasn’t given up more than one run in any of his six starts back from surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, was stifling on the mound. He held the Marlins to one run and four hits in 5⅔ innings, striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 1.91.
“The goal, at worst, is definitely six [innings] for me,” Snell said. “I also know that I can go seven, eight, nine. I know I’m able to do it. So for me not to, I’ve just got to get more efficient early in the game. I feel like once I get past the first couple innings, I start cruising and start figuring it out.”
Kyle Tucker powered the Dodgers’ offense, finishing a double shy of the cycle while recording a season-high five RBIs. He drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Then he tripled in the sixth and scored on a single by Will Smith. He topped it off with a grand slam in the seventh to seal the Dodgers’ season-high eighth straight win.
“Just trying to stay on top through the ball, stay up the middle or left-center,” Tucker said about unlocking a better swing. “Just keep the body from flying open.”
De Paula batted No. 7 and worked full counts in his first two at-bats. He drew a walk in the fourth.
De Paula gave a glimpse of his base running ability — he had 31 stolen bases in double-A this season — as he raced to second and touched the base before the tag came down. But his hand came off as he slid past the bag, and after a replay review, he was called out. He’s still seeking his first hit, but he proved the Dodgers’ confidence in his ability was well placed.
“He’ll be in there [Saturday] and the next day,” Roberts said, “and he’ll get his first one soon enough.”
De Paula, 21, has been pushing for a promotion with his play at the plate for months. He had a .948 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in double-A and went on a power spree starting at the end of July, hitting 11 of his 27 home runs before his promotion.
De Paula is expected to get regular at-bats at DH, with possibly some time in the outfield. He has some familiarity with his teammates and coaches after being at spring training the last two years.
Hitting coach Aaron Bates said De Paula’s calmness in the batter’s box stood out.
“It’s a ‘wise beyond his years’ kind of thing,” Bates said. “Just very polished in the sense that there’s no panic when he’s in the box — especially for a young hitter. You see young hitters try to swing faster or catch up or swing harder. He’s got a great temperament about him as far as the way he goes about it. And I think this year he was able to kind of put it all together.”
De Paula pointed to improvements across the board — defensively, physically, mentally.
“It was a lot of visualization and concentration, holding focus,” he said before the game. “Practicing that, I felt it would help focus in on what I have to do and not distractions. I feel it’s going to help me on the field.”
Freeman out of lineup
Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup because of a sore right knee for the second straight game.
“Turf [field], flight, travel, just smart to give him one more day,” said Roberts, who initially hoped Freeman would return to the lineup Friday.
Roberts expected Freeman to play Saturday.
