After missing the previous five games due to a lingering neck injury, Chris Taylor made a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh inning of Friday’s series opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, flying out to the warning track.
Taylor then returned to the lineup on Saturday with a start in center field.
While the Dodgers ultimately decided against placing Taylor on the 10-day injured list, he still isn’t back to full health.
The 31-year-old revealed he has been playing through a pinched nerve in his neck for several weeks and irritated the injury when diving for a ball in a Sept. 10 matchup against the San Diego Padres, via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
The All-Star explained that he had been dealing with a pinched nerve in his neck for some time before diving for a ball in the last game he appeared in, Sept. 10 against the Padres. He said the dive created whiplash that aggravated the injury.
Prior to being sidelined this past week, Taylor had been mired in a lengthy slump. Now that the extent of his neck injury is known, it’s easy to see why he has been struggling at the plate.
With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Dodgers likely will have to continue managing Taylor’s neck injury into October. “I hope not, but as we are right now, probably so,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“Hopefully it just continues to get better and it will just be an afterthought.”
Bellinger playing through non-displaced fracture
As Taylor plays through a pinched nerve in his neck, Cody Bellinger is attempting to do something similar with a non-displaced fracture in his ribs.
“Cody was going to be in there but just some residual from the incident with Lux in left-center field against Arizona, so we had some imaging and it’s a non-displaced fracture,” Roberts revealed.
“Pretty benign but there’s still some pain in there. So just to give Cody a day (off), and he’ll be back in there [Sunday] is the expectation. … It’s nothing that’s going to hurt worse by playing. It’s kind of per his tolerance. [Saturday] he was kind of sore.”
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