Dodgers: Betts a late scratch due to sore shoulder.
SAN FRANCISCO » There was good news out of Albuquerque for the Dodgers on the injury front.
In San Francisco? Not so much.
One day after being given a “spa day” and not playing against the Giants, Mookie Betts was a last-minute scratch from Sunday’s lineup due to left shoulder soreness. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Betts has been getting treatment for the sore shoulder this past week.
“He took swings this morning and tried to loosen up, get ready for the game and it just flared up,” Roberts said. “It didn’t feel good, kind of hurt. And so for me, I just felt that with the off day coming (Monday) it just made sense to pivot, get DJ (Peters) in there for the defense and get Mookie an extra day to hopefully be back in there on Tuesday.”
Before sitting him on Saturday, Roberts explained that off day for Betts as more of a mental break than physical. But Betts has dealt with an assortment of injuries already this season, most notably a lower back issue that sidelined him for four games in mid-April.
Betts has acknowledged the back issue was a contributing factor to his slow start. He is batting .258 with an .818 OPS in his first 38 games.
“I think that’s fair,” Roberts said when asked if the physical issues might explain the slow start. “Mookie is never gonna use ailments or things as an excuse. He’s a guy that prides himself on playing every day. But when you talk about the swing and performing consistently -we talk about the back, talk about the front shoulder, that certainly impacts it.
“I just don’t know to the degree that it affects performance. But I know that he would never use that as an excuse.”
Also Sunday, the Dodgers placed right-hander Jimmy Nelson on the injured list with right forearm inflammation. Nelson is the 16th player placed on IL by the Dodgers this season (including some like Caleb Ferguson and Tommy Kahnle who were not expected to play at all this year).
“There was just some arm soreness. He just didn’t rebound from the two-inning stint (on Thursday),” Roberts said of Nelson who has had shoulder, elbow and back surgeries since 2017 and missed two entire seasons (2018 and 2020).
To replace Nelson, the Dodgers recalled righthander Phil Bickford from Triple-A Oklahoma City. A first-round draft pick of the Giants in 2015, Bickford was claimed by the Dodgers on waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month.
Meanwhile in Albuquerque, Cody Bellinger and Zach McKinstry continued their minor-league injuryrehabilitation assignments with the OKC Dodgers and Tony Gonsolin began his.
Bellinger hit a home run in his first at-bat and went 1 for 4, playing seven innings in center field after getting Saturday off. McKinstry was also 1 for 4, playing seven innings in right field in his third rehab game.
Roberts said a “fair” target for both Bellinger and McKinstry to be activated from the IL would be “next weekend sometime.”
Gonsolin was scheduled to pitch two innings in his first game of the season but was so pitch efficient he went three. The right-hander (on the IL since the start of the season with a shoulder injury) retired 9 of the 10 batters he faced in three innings, giving up a double and striking out three while throwing 38 pitches.
He will start again this week for OKC and is being built up to serve as the Dodgers’ fifth starter.
Houston problem
The Dodgers will continue this road trip in Houston with a two-game series beginning Tuesday night.
The Astros have announced Minute Maid Park will be back to full capacity beginning with the series. It will be the Dodgers’ first time playing there in front of fans since the 2017 World Series, tainted by the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
The Dodgers did play in Houston last season with no fans in the stands, sweeping a two-game interleague series that featured a benches-clearing incident after Joe Kelly threw at Carlos Correa. Kelly was suspended for five games.
“You know, these are two different clubs, two very good ballclubs. We’re almost four years removed,” Roberts said when asked about any lingering ill feelings from the 2017 scandal. “I know we’re excited to play this club, go back in there and win a couple ballgames. I expect the crowd to be energized.”
Team USA
The Team USA roster manager Mike Scioscia will take into qualifying for the Olympics was announced Sunday and the former Dodgers catcher will have plenty of former Dodgers playing for him.
Among the players with Dodger connections are Matt Kemp (a three-time AllStar with the Dodgers), Tim Federowicz (currently playing for Triple-A Oklahoma City), Edwin Jackson (who made his big-league debut with the Dodgers in 2003), Logan Forsythe (a member of the Dodgers’ 2017 World Series team) and Homer Bailey (whose contract was once paid by the Dodgers).