The good vibes derived from Tyler Glasnow’s dominant seven-inning start and Shohei Ohtani’s two-homer game were shattered in the seventh inning Sunday when a 98 mph fastball hit the back of the save’s left hand. short of Dodgers Mookie Betts, who twisted on the ground minutes before exiting the game.
The Dodgers then beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 52,789 at Dodger Stadium, but they lost their dynamic leader in the process – X-rays showed that Betts had suffered a broken left hand . , and although he will not need surgery, he will be out for several weeks or even months.
“It’s a big blow, it’s true,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I feel really bad for Mookie. He was having an MVP season. It’s very unfortunate, but we have to move on, and that’s what we’re going to do. Everything will be fine for us. We have very good players.
Mookie Betts is hit by a pitch during the seventh inning Sunday against the Royals at Dodger Stadium.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Mookie Betts, left, writhes on the ground after being hit by a pitch as manager Dave Roberts and a team trainer tend to him during the seventh inning Sunday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Betts, who is hitting .304 with an on-base percentage plus .893, 10 homers, 16 doubles, 40 RBIs and 50 runs, had a count of 1 and 2 when he couldn’t get away from “The Heater up and down Royals reliever Dan Altavilla.” The ball hit Betts on the back of his left hand, which Betts grabbed as he fell to the ground.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve been hit in the hand, so I wasn’t sure (how bad it was),” Betts said after the game, his left hand wrapped. “I just went numb and it hurt. Unfortunately, it’s broken. There’s really nothing we can do now.
Betts did not travel with the team to Denver on Sunday night. He will be examined Monday by Dr. Steven Shin, a hand specialist.
“What next? Honestly, I’m not sure,” Betts said. “Sure, I’ll watch the boys, cheer them on, but other than that, it’s just rest, maybe use it like a mental break, being ready to go as soon as it heals.”
Betts moved from right field to second base over the winter and from second base to shortstop due to Gavin Lux’s throwing issues in early March.
The Dodgers have a great defensive option at shortstop in Miguel Rojas, but Rojas is far from Betts’ hitter, and he has been slowed this season by leg injuries that prevent him from play every day.
Shohei Ohtani hits a solo home run off Royals pitcher Brady Singer in the third inning Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Roberts said utilityman Kiké Hernández would also be used at shortstop. The team will recall left fielder Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City to replace Betts on the roster. Ohtani will likely be moved to the top spot in the order.
“It’s very difficult to see as a teammate,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said of Betts. “He’s obviously a very important part of the team. If he’s out for a while, it’s really up to the rest of the team to pick him up.
Betts’ injury, which occurred on the same day the Dodgers placed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the 15-day injured list with a rotator cuff strain, put a damper on an otherwise successful afternoon for the Dodgers.
Glasnow allowed three hits, striking out nine and walking one, in seven scoreless innings, and Ohtani and Freddie Freeman powered the offense with solo homers.
Setup Daniel Hudson struck out two of three batters in a scoreless eighth inning, and closer Evan Phillips threw a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.
Glasnow gave the Dodgers some much-needed lead after the team played a “bullpen game” Thursday night against the Texas Rangers and was forced into another bullpen game when Yamamoto left the starting pitch. Saturday night against the Royals after two innings due to injury.
“I really knew I had to be efficient and try to fill the zone,” said Glasnow, who improved to 7-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 15 starts. “I just tried to move forward, mix up my pitches a little more, not rely on the fastball too much, mix up the two seams, and it worked today.”
Glasnow’s only real problem came in the fourth, when Bobby Witt Jr. hit a one-out single and Vinnie Pasquantino walked. He escaped the jam by striking out Salvador Perez with an 83 mph curve in the dirt and having Adam Frazier strike out to Betts, who headed to the second-base side of the bag for Frazier’s grounder.
Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers in the first inning Sunday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“He was absolutely fantastic,” Ohtani said of Glasnow. “Really, no threat throughout the entire game.”
Glasnow needed just 85 pitches, including 62 strikes, to finish seven innings. He relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, which averaged 96.0 mph, and an 83 mph curve that he used to induce eight of his 15 swinging strikes. He also got five called strikes with the curve.
“I’ve been able to get some strikes in the last couple of starts,” Glasnow said of his big breaking ball. “I made some mechanical adjustments to try to keep it in the zone rather than always trying to hit guys with it.”
Glasnow’s third pitch is usually an 89 mph slider that he threw 15 times on Sunday, but he also threw a 96.8 mph two-seam sinker 15 times on Sunday after throwing it just 64 times in his 14 first starts.
“It’s basically just a heater, so it’s not like you have to learn a new pitch, and I think it puts me behind my four-seamer as well,” Glasnow said. “I’ve been a lot more comfortable kind of throwing it to righties, and today to a lefty. I’m just trying to mix it up a little more so it’s not so predictable.
Ohtani gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead when he “used most of the field,” as Roberts likes to say, crushing a 451-foot solo home run — his second longest of the season — on left center field. Royals right-hander Brady Singer in the third inning.
Ohtani had “become a little too rotary” in his swing over the past week, Roberts said, leading him to throw early and hit too many ground balls to the right side, but he is stayed on Singer’s 93 mph sinker for his 18th home run of the season, a laser that left his bat at 114.3 mph.
“That swing he made for that homer to left center, that’s the best swing I’ve ever seen,” Roberts said. “When he does things the right way, when he makes his pitch, when he uses most of the field, it’s pretty special.”
Ohtani then crushed an 80 mph first-pitch slider from Singer over the right-field wall to start the sixth inning for his 19th homer of the season and 18th multi-homer game of his career, this shot leaving his bat at 110.7 mph. and traveling 400 feet.
Freeman followed with his 10th homer of the season, driving a 2-for-0 slider from Singer 401 feet to right-center field for a 3-0 Dodgers lead.
“That last homer was a slider down low,” Roberts said of Ohtani, “and the fact that he hits it like that instead of drawing it as a foul or hitting the grounder shows him that he sees better the ball.”