LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts found himself outside of a top-three spot in the batting order to start a game for the first time since 2017 as his offensive struggles continue to mount.
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With Betts dropped to the cleanup spot against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, Andy Pages was moved up to the No. 2 hole for the first time this season.
Betts entered Tuesday’s game batting just .157 (8 for 51) with a .494 OPS in 12 games since returning from an oblique injury on May 11. He had just one hit in his previous four games.
“I think for me, it’s you see he’s not swinging well,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “You see there’s a little bit more anxiousness, tentativeness. It’s just to kind of give him a different look. I think that when you’re hitting at the top of the order and you’re taking on five at-bats in a night and you’re not swinging well, it can be a lot to take on.”
The move yielded immediate returns. Betts hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat in the first inning, then added a three-run homer in the sixth.
Betts had never previously hit below the No. 3 spot to start a game since joining the Dodgers. He had 18 games as a cleanup hitter for the Boston Red Sox in 2017, when he ended up finishing sixth in American League MVP voting. He was named AL MVP in 2018.
With just four home runs through his first 20 games, Betts was on pace to hit just 12 this season after hitting 20 last season and a career high 39 in 2023.
It has been a rough two seasons for Betts, who opened last year with an illness that caused him to lose nearly 20 pounds. He had just 11 home runs through the end of July but offset the power outage by becoming a top defensive shortstop.
“I think if you look at spring training, he didn’t take a whole bunch of at-bats,” Roberts said. “He starts off fine, then has the oblique. He kind of felt good coming back and it just hasn’t translated. So, now he’s in a funk.
“He’s working hard. Him and the hitting guys are working through it, so he’ll find a way to get out of it. It sort of happens with him every year.”
Pages got off to a hot start when he was batting .412 with five home runs and 21 RBIs just 19 games into the season. He slowed down by batting .200 over the next 16 games then had a pair of three-hit games in Houston earlier this month.
Pages followed a home run in Milwaukee on Sunday with two hits against the Rockies on Monday.
“I like Andy’s at-bats,” said Roberts, who wanted a right-handed hitter between a pair of left-handed hitters in Shohei Ohtani out of the leadoff spot and Freddie Freeman in the No. 3 spot. “That’s kind of the basis of it. I like the way he’s going about his at-bats recently.”
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Pages also is expected to bat second on Wednesday.
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Right-handed relievers Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart each faced hitters Hyeseong Kim and Alex Call on Tuesday afternoon from the Dodger Stadium mound as they moved closer to a return from injuries.
Phillips, who has been out for more than a year following Tommy John surgery, threw 23 pitches in his third session against hitters but first from a major league mound. His first two were at the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.
“I feel like today was probably one of my more sharp live BPs,” Phillips said. “… Things got a little wonky for a week or so, but we worked hard to dial it back in, and I think with each live BP and each game on the rehab assignment, I’ll look to be more refined with each one.”
The Dodgers have not scheduled a minor league rehab assignment just yet, but it could come as soon as next week after two more sessions against hitters.
“I’ve gained a lot of empathy for people who go through surgery,” Phillips said. “It’s a pretty ridiculous process what we have to do. The rehab process is pretty grueling. I’ve definitely grown a soft spot for some of those guys in Arizona that are going through it and trying to get back.”
Stewart, who is on the IL with a bone spur in his left foot, threw 17 pitches. Roberts said the injury has not subsided as quickly as the medical staff originally projected.
Stewart started the season on the IL after shoulder surgery last year, pitched in two games and has not been in a game since May 8. He has pitched in just six games since the Dodgers reacquired their former sixth-round draft pick at last year’s trade deadline.
MAX PATIENCE
Third baseman Max Muncy missed his fourth consecutive game after he was hit by a pitch in the right wrist on Friday in Milwaukee, but he did take batting practice Tuesday. The Dodgers are doing all they can to avoid a trip to the injured list.
“If all goes well, then he’ll be in there (Wednesday), and if not, then we’ll just kick it to another day,” Roberts said.
ALSO
Utility man Tommy Edman started his rehab assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City and went 1 for 3, while playing five innings at second base. Edman, who had ankle surgery in the offseason, is expected to spend more than a week playing with Oklahoma City.
UP NEXT
Rockies (Tomoyuki Sugano, 4-3, 3.86 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Shohei Ohtani, 4-2, 0.73 ERA), Wednesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM, 1020 AM
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