The Los Angeles Dodgers have longed to be at full strength with their group of position players and while that has briefly been the case of late, AJ Pollock was removed in the bottom of the first inning due to a right hamstring strain.
Pollock was on second base after hitting a two-out RBI double that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0. He then was caught taking too aggressive of a lead and thrown out at third base. Pollock slid awkwardly and immediately grabbed at his right hamstring area.
Pollock rose to his feet rather quickly but remained hunched over before limping off the field. He then needed assistance down the dugout steps.
Cody Bellinger, who has been relegated to a platoon role with the Dodgers at proverbial full strength, entered the game off the bench and took over in center field. That pushed Chris Taylor over to left field, where Pollock had started.
The 33-year-old has enjoyed his best season since an All-Star campaign with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015.
“Hitting right-handers, left-handers, playing really good defense, being dynamic on the bases, he’s slugging but can downshift and hit a base hit when we need it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently said. “He’s just been an overall really good player.
“When some guys are running a little bit cold, he’s been picking everybody up and been one of our most consistent performers in the second half.”
Pollock not complacent
Although the Dodgers collectively have been playing some of their best baseball this season — even with recent offensive lulls — Pollock stopped short of declaring as much or taking comfort in it.
“Baseball is weird. You never quite feel like you’ve arrived,” he said earlier this week. “Sometimes the offense is grinding and pitching has been great. Sometimes vice versa, the offense is doing good and the pitching is maybe slumping.
“I feel like we’re playing good enough baseball to win a lot of games, for sure. The defense has been playing great, pitching has kept us close, and if you do that, you’re always going to be in games. We should win a lot of games if we keep playing like this but as far as clicking on all cylinders, I don’t know.
“It’s tough to have everything clicking at the same time, but we’ll see.”
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