Dodgers get good news – no fracture in Teoscar Hernandez’s foot
LOS ANGELES — Teoscar Hernandez underwent an MRI and a CT scan on his injured left foot Saturday. The results provided something unexpected for the Dodgers – good news.
No fracture was found by the exams and Hernandez is not expected to go on the Injured List.
“MRI and CT scans were negative – thank God, nothing broken,” Hernandez said. “Just take the day today, do some activity tomorrow to see how it’s going. Maybe Monday or Tuesday, back on the field.
“Thank God, I don’t have to go there (the Injured List) and I’ll be able to be back in a couple days.”
Hernandez was hit in the left foot, near his ankle, by a pitch during the first inning of Friday’s game. The pain was intense enough that Hernandez feared the worst.
“I thought it was worse, honestly, when I got hit,” he said Saturday. “After a couple hours, I feel like the pain wasn’t going away. … But thank God it’s nothing to worry about.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has heard enough bad injury news this year that he was bracing for more with Hernandez and was “very relieved” when the results of Saturday’s exams came in.
“Obviously, if it was a fracture, that was probably going to be end of the season for him, and it would have been a huge loss,” Roberts said. “But with the imaging that we received, information we received, we feel good about the day-to-day, and getting him back sometime early next week. So I hope it just continues to get better each day.”
Signed to a one-year contract as a free agent last winter, Hernandez is second on the team in home runs (28) and RBIs (87) with an .819 OPS (fourth on the team behind Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman). His offensive production has been critical with Max Muncy sidelined for three months with a rib injury and Will Smith having his worst offensive season.
Andy Pages started in Hernandez’s place Saturday but Roberts said he hadn’t decided if that playing time will go to Pages, Chris Taylor or Kiké Hernandez until Teoscar Hernandez returns.
GLASNOW PEN
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow threw approximately 20 pitches (all fastballs) in a bullpen session Saturday afternoon. It was Glasnow’s first time throwing off a mound since he went on the Injured List with elbow tendinitis three weeks ago.
“The bullpen went really well,” Roberts said. “Came out of it pretty excited.”
Glasnow will throw another bullpen session on Tuesday, using his full pitch mix. The Dodgers will decide after that whether he will throw to hitters in a simulated-game setting or rejoin the rotation.
Regardless, Glasnow will likely be limited when he returns to the rotation – just as right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be when he starts on Tuesday. Yamamoto made two rehab starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City but went just two innings.
“Just looking at the calendar, there’s only a few opportunities, so we might be in that situation where it’s three or four innings,” Roberts said of Glasnow’s limits when he returns. “But you sort of have to take what you can get at this point in time, if he’s healthy, and try to just go from there.”
Having two pitchers in the rotation – Glasnow and Yamamoto – limited to three (maybe four) innings will mean the Dodgers will once again ask their bullpen to step up and cover more innings.
“It’ll be tough,” Roberts said of the potential drag on the bullpen. “But honestly, it’s nothing we haven’t done all year. If that’s the case then we’ll figure it out.”
GRATEROL RETURN
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol completed his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City by pitching a scoreless inning on Friday. Roberts said Graterol will be activated from the Injured List Sunday or Monday depending on the Dodgers’ bullpen usage this weekend.
Graterol missed most of the season with a shoulder injury, returned to pitch for the Dodgers on August 6 but left after nine pitches with a hamstring injury. He made two appearances for OKC this week.
UP NEXT
Guardians (RHP Tanner Bibee, 11-6, 3.56 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Jack Flaherty, 11-6, 3.01 ERA), Sunday, 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM