The Los Angeles Dodgers just welcomed back Mookie Betts from the 10-day injured list, but he was removed as part of a double-switch in the seventh inning of his fourth game since returning due to right hip discomfort.
Betts led off the bottom of the first inning with a base hit up the middle on a nine-pitch at-bat. However, he labored to get to third base when Justin Turner followed with a double down the right-field line.
Betts jogged the bases and went into a crouch upon reaching third. He was able to sprint home on Albert Pujols’ RBI infield single but grimaced and limped after crossing the plate.
“Just in talking to him, when he went first to third, that hip pointer — the thing he’s been dealing with — really checked him up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained after the loss in extra innings.
“To be in the outfield, to cover ground, not moving his best, obviously you’ve got a Gold Glover in Cody that can take down the defense and offense. I just felt to get him out at that point in time to not make it worse, hopefully there’s a chance he can be in there [Saturday].
“We’ll see when he comes in. … I think it’s something that as we look out we’re probably going to have to manage it a lot. Ideally we wouldn’t. Our reality is it’s something that’s not going to go away.
“Mookie is doing what he can to give us innings out there defensively, give us at-bats, play with a governor on, so we’ve just got to manage him. Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of good players that can help support.”
Friday’s start was Betts’ first in right field since coming off the IL. The Dodgers played him at second base as a means of better managing his nagging right hip trouble. “It’s less running,” Betts noted this week of playing the infield.
“I think you forget the run to the outfield, running on the bases, it’s just a lot of running and the amount kind of adds up. It’s a shorter run to second base, so I’m just trying to take less steps.”
Although Betts enjoyed playing second base, he anticipated a return to right field once Trea Turner was activated. That came in the opener of the Freeway Series, though Turner was not in the lineup.
Betts confused by hip trouble
Part of the frustration for Betts with the right hip inflammation is not having any clarity on what caused it.
“That’s the tough part, is I don’t really know why it’s here or how to get it to go away, other than time,” Betts noted last week. “We don’t have that, so we just have to manage and do everything we can to keep it at bay.
“I wish it would’ve come from like I ran into the wall or something. Not just out of nowhere. It would’ve made a little more sense, but it is what it is. You’ve just got to deal with it. The training staff has done a great job in helping me get to where I’m at now.”
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