LOS ANGELES – Truer words might never have been spoken in a major-league clubhouse.
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“That’s just baseball,” Teoscar Hernandez said of the recent surge that has turned his season around. “It’s a little hard sometimes.”
After underperforming most of the season, including a .204 average and .590 OPS from the start of July until August 25, things have gotten easier for Hernandez. Through Friday, Hernandez was 13 for his past 34 (.382) with three doubles, a home run and six RBI in nine games.
Even his outs have been hit hard. In five games before Saturday, Hernandez put 12 balls in play with exit velocities over 100 mph.
“It’s great. Everything is clicking,” he said. “The timing is good. The swing is good. I’m seeing the ball better so better decisions, better contact, better at-bats. Everything is the way it should be.”
That includes his stance. Hernandez said he has three variations that he uses throughout the season based on how he is feeling physically and other factors. His preferred stance has his front foot slightly open with a first-move timing mechanism that involves a slight toe tap/leg kick.
Hernandez started each of the past two seasons using that stance. But he suffered leg injuries each year – an adductor muscle injury in May 2025 and a hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of June this year.
“Last year, I used it before I had the injury. That’s the way I was hitting,” said Hernandez, who got off to an excellent start in 2025. “Then when I came back, I was doing the same thing but I was feeling it (in his injured leg) so that’s why I stopped. This year when I got my hamstring issue, I had to get rid of it because it was putting so much pressure on the hamstring.
“Little little things that people barely notice or realize – it can change the swing and the results in games.”
It might also not be a coincidence that Hernandez’s turnaround began when it became obvious the Dodgers were considering cutting his playing time down the stretch and, potentially, in the postseason. He was on the bench for the first game of the Dodgers’ series in Atlanta against Braves right-hander Bryce Elder. His surge started with two hits the next day.
“I would say more of it is making some adjustments,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked if the specter of lost playing time might have lit a fire under Hernandez. “That’s not a bad thing to think about, that there’s other alternatives if performance isn’t what it needs to be. But he’s always working, always trying. And I do think that he’s found something that simplified his swing, that has allowed him to see the baseball better versus right, versus left.
“But I do think, yeah, there might be some of that other stuff in there too, which I don’t think is bad.”
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DAY THREE
Shohei Ohtani was not in the Dodgers’ lineup for a third consecutive day on Saturday, the first time he has missed three consecutive starts since the end of the 2023 season with the Angels.
“My expectation is he’s going to hit today in the cage,” Roberts said, adding that he would have “a conversation” with Ohtani on Sunday to see how his biceps and knee feel after that workout.
The pressure to make a decision on placing Ohtani on the injured list is increasing. An IL move can only be backdated a maximum of three days, so if the Dodgers delay any longer, it would extend the time they will be without Ohtani. And as a two-way player, Ohtani has to go on the 15-day IL (like a pitcher), not the 10-day IL (like a position player).
Roberts agreed that the difference between losing Ohtani for 15 days instead of 10 is “meaningful” and “more of a deterrent” to placing him on the IL. With rosters expanded to 28 for September, the Dodgers could just continue to play short-handed with Ohtani on the active roster but unavailable.
PITCHING PLANS
Right-hander Bobby Miller was activated from the taxi squad on Saturday and Kyle Hurt was returned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. In order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Miller, outfielder Alek Thomas was designated for assignment.
Miller gives the Dodgers a multi-inning option out of the bullpen. But Roberts said left-hander Justin Wrobleski will “take the bulk” of Sunday’s game if not actually start.
The Dodgers will also need a starter for Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. Right-hander Emmet Sheehan is scheduled to start Sunday for OKC but could be a candidate to start Monday for the Dodgers instead.
Right-hander Edwin Diaz has joined OKC and is scheduled to start a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment with the Comets on Sunday.
ALSO
Dalton Rushing was in the starting lineup at DH on Saturday, but he was scratched with elbow discomfort after going through a throwing session during the pre-game workout. Rushing is trying to work back from a slight tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He has been used as a pinch-hitter but is not expected to be able to catch again this season.
Max Muncy was also scratched from the starting lineup due to illness.
UP NEXT
Nationals (LHP Andrew Alvarez, 2-6, 3.47 ERA) at Dodgers (TBA), Sunday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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