The Los Angeles Dodgers’ scheduled bullpen game against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday did not go according to plan, resulting in an 11-1 loss and another Kiké Hernández pitching appearance.
The utility man entered the game with two outs in the sixth and escaped a jam that was created by Matt Sauer, who struggled as the bulk pitcher.
Hernández returned to the mound in the seventh inning and allowed two runs before tossing a scoreless eighth to finish his outing. His final line was 2.1 innings pitched, three hits, two runs (one earned) and one walk.
After the game, Jackson Merrill said that Hernández threw him one of the best cutters he’s ever seen, via Alden González of ESPN.com:
FWIW: Jackson Merrill said Kiké Hernández threw him the nastiest cutter he had ever seen.
I asked if he was being sarcastic.
He swore he wasn’t.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) June 11, 2025
Merrill faced Hernández in the seventh and grounded out on a 49.4 mph pitch that was classified as a “slow curve.” Before that, Hernández threw Merrill two eephus pitches.
Hernández has now taken the mound three times this season and owns a 2.08 ERA in 4.1 innings pitched. He has made eight pitching appearances in his MLB career, including four last year and one for the Boston Red Sox during the 2018 season.
Dave Roberts disappointed Kiké Hernández pitched
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted that he had no choice but to use Hernández as a pitcher given the circumstances, and doing so in the sixth inning made matters wrose.
“Very awkward, very awkward,” Roberts began.
“It doesn’t feel good, but I think a guy that was available tonight in (Michael) Kopech, I’m not going to pitch him, down six or seven in the sixth inning, to then not have him available tomorrow. As the rules are, we abided, and that’s kind of what you do to essentially move forward and win the ensuing games.”
Per MLB rules, position players can pitch if their team is losing by eight or more runs at any point in the game. Hernández entered Tuesday’s matchup with the Dodgers trailing the Padres, 9-0.
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