Mookie Betts was out of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Saturday night for a sixth consecutive game as he continues to be sidelined by right hip irritation. Manager Dave Roberts reiterated the hope is Betts will return for the San Francisco Giants series, and revealed he received an injection.
“He got a cortisone shot a couple days ago, so kind of hoping that dissipates some of the pain. The goal, the hope is still to have him play on Tuesday in San Francisco,” Roberts said. “But it’s still day-to-day.
“I know he wants to get in there, but the pain is just not allowing for him to be in there. Hopefully with this shot, that will dissipate and we can get him back moving around and in the lineup.”
Betts played through ongoing hip discomfort during the first half of the season and that was a factor — along with left shoulder and back trouble — to not participate in the 2021 MLB All-Star Game and instead rest and recover.
Though, it did not become publicly known Betts had been suffering from hip inflammation until he aggravated the injury at Coors Field. Nevertheless, he downplayed the matter and was expected to be in the lineup when the Dodgers began a four-game series against the Giants.
That initially was the case, only for Betts to be a late scratch after attempting to go through batting practice. He pinch-hit Monday night but hasn’t appeared in a game since then and isn’t expected to until the series opener at Oracle Park.
Betts’ prolonged absence hasn’t necessarily been much of a surprise at this point considering Roberts acknowledged his hip injury is at the worst level it’s been all season. That also would explain the five-time All-Star being administered a cortisone injection.
Dodgers won’t put Betts on IL
Despite Betts being unavailable, the Dodgers have effectively decided against placing him on the 10-day injured list. Friday marked a bit of a breaking point as the team could have done so and still taken advantage of the maximum three days for a retroactive date.
“I think because if we do that, even with the backdate, we would miss him for the Giants series,” Roberts noted, alluding to an IL stint then making Betts unavailable until Friday. “I think the other alternative is we feel good standing pat and waiting it out.”
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