With Cody Bellinger unavailable due to still recovering from a left adductor strain, Chris Taylor made a second consecutive start in center field on Tuesday night.
He went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers’ loss, but more concerning was Taylor running into the wall in center field while making a catch during the fifth inning. Taylor was slow to get up and appeared to be in pain as his right arm was hanging.
However, he flashed a thumbs up to the Dodgers dugout and remained in the game.
“It was his (right) elbow, so he went and threw a little bit in the cage,” manager Dave Roberts said after the loss. “Hopefully he comes in [Wednesday] ready to go.”
Taylor underwent surgery on his right elbow during the offseason and thus far hasn’t shown any lingering effects from the recovery. The fact that Taylor hit the elbow against the wall has given the Dodgers some reason to be apprehensive.
“That is a concern,” Roberts said. “We’ll see. Hopefully it’s just a scare and he’s fine, but yeah that is the one he had surgery.”
Taylor previously sustained a minor injury this season when fouling a pitch off his left knee resulted in a bone bruise. Coincidentally, that occurred during a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Taylor was in the Dodgers’ lineup for Wednesday night and didn’t report any lingering trouble.
Chris Taylor not yet playing infield
Although Taylor and the Dodgers expressed confidence he had made a full recovery from elbow surgery by Opening Day of the 2022 season, the team still implemented a plan to keep him in the outfield.
“I think for me, the driver is C.T. coming back from surgery. So to not put him in a situation where he’s got to play with arm angles,” Roberts recently explained of Taylor not yet playing the infield.
“From the outfield, then to kind of shorten the stroke and throw from different angles. So to make sure he gets a 100% bill of health, and then we’ll kind of move him around more.”
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