{"id":669853,"date":"2026-05-28T09:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669853\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T09:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:46:22","slug":"kike-hernandezs-oblique-has-significant-tear-as-he-returns-to-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669853\/","title":{"rendered":"Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez’s oblique has ‘significant tear’ as he returns to IL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dodgers<\/a> utility man Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>\u2019s said he was hoping for \u201csomewhat good news tomorrow\u201d after leaving Tuesday\u2019s game with an oblique injury. <\/p>\n

But on Wednesday, an MRI exam showed a \u201csignificant tear\u201d in his left oblique, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. Hern\u00e1ndez is expected to be out six to eight weeks, but recovery timelines for oblique strains vary, depending on how long it takes the player to become symptom-free.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t really know what the timeline is, but it\u2019s certainly warranting an IL stint,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

In a corresponding move, infielder Alex Freeland<\/a> was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

After returning from a offseason surgery on his left elbow, the 34-year-old Hern\u00e1ndez went four for four, including a home run and two RBIs.<\/p>\n

However, Hern\u00e1ndez said he tweaked his oblique during batting practice Monday, though he felt fine enough to play. The pain returned after his third-inning home run swing, and he was pulled in the top of the fifth Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In his absence, the Dodgers will be splitting time between Freeland and Hyeseong Kim, with Freeland getting the majority of the reps. The Dodgers are also navigating third baseman Max Muncy\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, he\u2019s earned the opportunity to get some looks consistently, and it\u2019s a credit to him to go back down and play well,\u201d Roberts said of Freeland.<\/p>\n

In 33 games with the Dodgers, Freeland collected 23 hits and 2 home runs, walking 11 times.<\/p>\n

But his time in the minor leagues was productive, as he hit .265 with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 11 games with the Comets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great, that\u2019s what we talked about doing is going down there and knocking the door down and taking that frustration out on those pitchers,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

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Freeland\u2019s next step is to show he can make those improvements against Major League pitching. His first chance will be against the Colorado Rockies\u2019 Tomoyuki Sugano as Freeland was inserted into the starting lineup at second base.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know you\u2019re in a big room, and you\u2019re trying to find your way, not make mistakes,\u201d Roberts said of Freeland. \u201c[He has to] give himself some grace and go out there and play hard and be a tough out. Go out there and play defense, and then good things happen.<\/p>\n

With Freeland playing, Kim will take a backseat. In the 27-year-old\u2019s 42 games with the Dodgers, Kim hasn\u2019t reached his previous successes from last season. Currently, he is batting .254 with 29 hits and 11 RBIs.<\/p>\n

When asked about how the Dodgers plan to balance also getting Kim some at-bats, Roberts replied: \u201cHyeseong\u2019s gotten a lot of runway, certainly versus right-handed pitching, and I think that right now it\u2019s skewing towards Alex getting more of the opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dodgers utility man Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s said he was hoping for \u201csomewhat good news tomorrow\u201d after leaving Tuesday\u2019s game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[36410,5460,10094,66346,4281,292384,363,292387,292382,292385,292388,292386,292383,99,33555,11484,6601],"class_list":["post-669853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alex-freeland","tag-game","tag-il","tag-kike-hernandez","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-manager-dave-roberts","tag-mlb","tag-mri-exam","tag-oblique","tag-oblique-show","tag-recovery-timeline","tag-second-base-wednesday","tag-significant-tear","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-tuesday","tag-wednesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}