Mookie Betts returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Tuesday night for the first time since March 9 and expects to play on domestic Opening Day despite battling a stomach virus over multiple weeks.
“I’m perfectly fine. Perfectly normal. That’s pretty much it,” Betts said after playing five innings at shortstop and taking three at-bats in the Dodgers’ win against the Los Angeles Angels in the finale of the Freeway Series.
Betts’ conviction was a surprising turn of events just two days after he expressed plenty of frustration and confusion over his mystery illness.
“I think it was just a little time, and yeah the medicine worked,” Betts said.
He previously had alluded to being prescribed new medication that doctors hoped would address what Betts described as a “really aggravated” stomach. He also said an official diagnosis had not been determined.
The sickness and inability to eat solid food caused Betts to lose an estimated 20 pounds from the weight he reported to Spring Training at. He looked visibly thinner and the Dodgers were worried about dehydration and overall physical condition.
“I’m actually stronger than I was before,” Betts asserted on Tuesday night. “My body has been perfectly fine. It’s only been my stomach. Literally only my stomach. I’ve been working out, doing everything perfectly normal.
“It was just hard to hold down food.”
The Dodgers plan to have Betts participate in a workout on Wednesday and he expects to play in the Dodger Stadium opener.
“I mean, I played in game,” Betts said, referencing his return.
“Once I step foot on the dirt, I’m ready to go.”
What caused Mookie Betts to get sick?
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts declared Betts “turned a corner” on Monday and intimated there had been a discovery of the root of the issue, but declined to be who provided specifics.
Betts confirmed as much, though he too did not divulge details.
“I just figured out what it was, figured out what I needed to stay away from, and turned the corner,” Betts said.
What did Betts need to stop eating in order to overcome the vomiting trouble?
“I’ll keep that in house,” he answered.
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