MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers escaped a night brimming with potential injury disaster on Monday with an optimistic outlook for All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker and catcher Dalton Rushing \u2014 along with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins that made them the first team in the majors to reach 50 wins this season.<\/p>\n
Tucker\u2019s disappointing first season with the Dodgers took a turn for the worse during the bottom of the first inning, with a series of back spasms occurring as he took his place in right field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just lit up,\u201d Tucker said.<\/p>\n
He remained in the game for another half-inning and took an at-bat, where he fouled off the first pitch before drawing a walk. His walk raised his season OPS to .707, a mark that ranks 109th out of 152 qualified hitters in the majors.<\/p>\n
It was then that manager Dave Roberts noticed Tucker not moving well from first to second base on Tommy Edman\u2019s ensuing single to right field, prompting a pinch runner.<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t want to put him in any more jeopardy,\u201d Roberts said, \u201cand so I felt it was just smart to just pivot right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker, who signed the richest contract in baseball history by annual value this winter, is not expected to undergo imaging on Tuesday, and Roberts downplayed the team\u2019s overall level of concern.<\/p>\n
As Tucker\u2019s back spasms began, Rushing took a foul tip off his mask on Will Klein\u2019s first pitch of the game to Trevor Larnach.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy head was just pounding the next couple innings,\u201d said Rushing, who was replaced in the third inning by Chuckie Robinson and passed initial concussion testing.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers will bring in an extra catcher to Minnesota on Tuesday as a precaution.<\/p>\n
For now, at least, the Dodgers have avoided the worst with each, coming out ahead on the heels of solo home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and six no-hit innings of bulk relief from Eric Lauer.<\/p>\n
At 50-29, the reigning back-to-back World Series champions have the best record in the sport. This, despite a spate of injuries and poor performance, even after another spend-heavy offseason.<\/p>\n
Tucker said his symptoms on Monday were better than his previous series of back spasms.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast time, it was lighting every couple seconds or minutes,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cHere, it\u2019s just that one time it lit up my whole back, and then after that, (it) kind of calmed down, but it\u2019s super sore and (a) smaller kind of spasms that I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker, who signed a four-year, $240 million deal, has looked very little like the four-time All-Star the Dodgers signed him to be, not just in production but in approach. He has seen a sizable jump in his aggressiveness on the first pitch, with the sixth-highest year-over-year increase in baseball. Tucker is swinging more in general, hacking at 48.7 percent of pitches he\u2019d seen entering Monday, his highest mark since 2022. He has also chased more pitches than he has at any point since that season.<\/p>\n
Tucker\u2019s struggles lingering into late June turned him into a talking point in Roberts\u2019 pregame media session, hours before he exited with an injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo player wants to not perform up to their capabilities,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI do think that there\u2019s a fitting in part of it. Wanting to perform up to your expectations (is) part of it \u2026 For me, I think it\u2019s just wanting him to get back to being who he is as a hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps Tucker needs that reminder of who he is as a hitter before opposing pitchers can feel the same way, Roberts posited.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, when he\u2019s scuffling, that pitcher knows who\u2019s in the batter\u2019s box,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that he, Kyle, can\u2019t lose sight of, because that\u2019s ultimately what matters in that one particular at-bat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now it remains to be seen if Tucker is in the Dodgers\u2019 lineup at all.<\/p>\n
Tucker immediately went from the basepaths to an extended conversation with hitting coach Aaron Bates, rather than a member of the Dodgers\u2019 training staff. That might be an encouraging sign for Tucker\u2019s health. The only way for him to escape this rut is to remain healthy enough to swing his way out of it.<\/p>\n
Rushing\u2019s injury could have suddenly put the Dodgers\u2019 catching situation in a precarious position. Will Smith is already on the injured list with an inflamed disc in his neck that recently required an injection. Smith did not travel with the club to Minnesota and isn\u2019t expected to be an option until at least the Dodgers return from their 10-day road trip that began Monday.<\/p>\n
Rushing\u2019s own concussion history, which includes a severe injury he suffered in the minors in 2023 when he was struck in the back of the head by an opponent\u2019s backswing and collapsed when he initially tried to remain in the game, is worth noting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe headache\u2019s kind of lingered and went away,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cTake some medicine, pass a concussion test and we\u2019ll move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rushing, the club\u2019s former top prospect, has held down the everyday duties for much of Smith\u2019s absence. While he\u2019s significantly cooled off from his red-hot April (a .595 OPS through his last 100 plate appearances entering Monday), the organization still saw improvement in how the young catcher has handled the team\u2019s pitching staff.<\/p>\n
If Rushing does miss time, the Dodgers don\u2019t have another catcher besides Robinson on the 40-man roster, with Eliezer Alfonzo at Triple-A Oklahoma City as depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers escaped a night brimming with potential injury disaster on Monday with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,487,462,82],"class_list":["post-755489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}