PHOENIX — In the third inning of Tuesday night’s game at Chase Field, Kyle Tucker got a 2-and-2 breaking ball from Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Michael Soroka and popped it up to the left fielder. Tucker slammed his bat to the ground in frustration as he left the batter’s box.
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In the second inning on Wednesday night, Tucker got a 1-and-1 fastball from another Diamondbacks right-hander, Zac Gallen, and drove it 424 feet over the pool in the right field stands. His first home run in 100 plate appearances left Tucker’s bat at 107.6 mph, his hardest-hit ball this year.
Most of Tucker’s first season with the Dodgers has existed in the expanse between those two extremes, the occasional hot streak dampened by a string of lesser results. That has left Tucker with a .243 batting average and a .739 OPS through Wednesday, well below the past performances that made him such a sought-after free agent last winter.
“I wouldn’t say disappointed,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked to assess the one-step-forward, two-steps-back character of Tucker’s season to date. “I would say I’m probably just hoping that there’s some traction for him and for our sake. He’s working hard. There’s a day where it looks like he’s back and feeling comfortable. Then a couple days where you look at him and it looks like he’s searching again. For me, you just hope he can find something that sticks.”
If there was some leeway to be given for a player adjusting to a new team and environment, that grace period is over by now, Roberts acknowledged.
“I do think there is some of that for all players, a transition, an adjustment,” he said. “But to be quite honest, once you’re in the (batter’s) box, you’re in the box.
“It’s more kind of just trying to feel comfortable with his mechanics. Still, you’ve got to compete. Go with whatever swing you have that day to help us win a baseball game. That’s what you’ve got to do.”
Tucker has talked about his search for a consistent swing as well as approach. His chase rate (though it has come down recently) is higher than it has been since 2022. His percentage of weak contact is the highest of his career and the percentage of times he hits the ball on the barrel is the lowest.
“I mean, chasing overall has been fine,” he said this week. “It’s just some of the pitches, I either miss or foul it off and get in a worse count – which I’m not used to, especially over an extended period of time. It happens every now and then. But it just seems a little bit longer this year.
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“I just try and come out and have good at-bats and play well regardless, and then try and carry over to the next day. It doesn’t always happen. But I just need to be a little bit more consistent with that.”
SMALL BLISTER
Roberts acknowledged Thursday that Shohei Ohtani has been dealing with a “small” blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand for the past couple of starts. But it didn’t have “any bearing on his outing” Wednesday and should be “a non-issue” for his future pitching schedule.
“There is a little blister. Everyone saw him picking at it a little bit, but I didn’t hear too much about it after the game,” Roberts said. “I don’t expect it to affect him going forward.”
MINOR MATTERS
Right-hander Evan Phillips joined Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday to start his rehab assignment. Phillips is returning from Tommy John surgery a year ago. He joins utility man Tommy Edman, who is continuing his rehab assignment in Triple-A where he has gone 7 for 20 in his first six games, playing second base, left and center field.
Former major leaguer Alek Thomas was acquired from the Diamondbacks in a trade on May 12. He spent three weeks in Arizona working with the Dodgers’ player development staff on his swing and went 1 for 12 in Arizona Complex League games while he was there. Thomas joined OKC on Wednesday and hit a home run in his first game with the Comets.
Known as an excellent defender with outstanding speed, Thomas hit just .230 in five seasons with the Diamondbacks and was designated for assignment in May after batting just .181 in 28 games this year.
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Reid Detmers, 2-5, 4.63 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Roki Sasaki, 3-3, 4.59 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m.,SportsNet LA, 570 AM