The Los Angeles Dodgers have managed to maintain one of the best records in baseball despite going stretches without the likes of Blake Snell, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández, among other key contributors.
With respect to Edman and Hernández specifically, the Dodgers’ offense has found a spark of late and produced a season-high 19 runs to take the rubber match from the Athletics.
Thursday’s offensive explosion was the Dodgers’ fourth time scoring double-digit runs, and sixth such instance in 15 games. The Dodgers have accomplished this without Edman and Hernández, who have not appeared in a game since April 29 and May 5 respectively.
Now the team is hoping they will be able to slot the pair of impact bats back into their lineup over the next few days.
“I’m hoping Tommy will be back on Sunday. Teo is going to go out on a rehab on Saturday, so hoping to get him back, potentially on Monday,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
While it was confirmed that Hernández will be out on a rehab assignment, he won’t be far as he reports to the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes as they take on the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers in San Bernardino.
Both players ran the bases before Friday’s game. It’s a particularly good sign for Edman, as it has been a consistent hurdle that has delayed his return multiple times since being placed on the 10-day IL.
As for Hernández, his trajectory continues to point upwards despite the initial expectation that he would miss multiple weeks or possibly even longer. That timeline was shortened when it became clear that Hernández was dealing with less pain and discomfort in the immediate aftermath of his groin injury, and that trend has continued.
Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández stats
Hernández was the Dodgers’ best hitter in April, batting .330/.326/.638 with eight doubles, seven home runs and 24 RBI. Hernández hit .448/.467/.690 in his last seven games before the injury.
At the time of going on the injured list, Hernández also was leading the Majors with 34 RBI.
At the time of his injury, Edman was second on the Dodgers with eight home runs, trailing only Shohei Ohtani (10) and Hernández (nine). Now Ohtani has increased his total to an MLB-best 16 homers.
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