Los Angeles’ Teoscar Hernandez is trending in the right direction at the plate as the visiting Dodgers prepare to face the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night in the second game of a three-game series.
Hernandez missed two weeks in May with an adductor strain. When he returned to the Dodgers’ lineup, he batted below .200 over a 48-game stretch.
But Hernandez had his first three-hit game since April when the Dodgers beat the Twins 4-3 on Wednesday, and he had a two-run homer and three RBIs during a 5-2 victory over Boston on Friday night.
“My timing is getting close to being as good as I want,” Hernandez said. “Now I’m not missing a lot of pitches in the strike zone — I’m putting it in play. That’s what I’m looking for. Just trying to get pitches in the strike zone and just put a good swing on it.
“The atmosphere here (Boston) is really good,” Hernandez continued. “I like when the fans get into the game. Obviously we got a lot of fans from LA (at Fenway Park). The Boston fans, they’re really good. This is why this is one of my favorite places to play. It gets me excited and takes everything out of me.”
Boston hasn’t scored more than two runs in five of its last seven games. The Red Sox were held to five hits during Friday night’s loss.
“It’s always hard (to play from behind),” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It happened earlier in the season, but I think we keep grinding and we keep putting good at-bats and we were right back in the game until Teoscar hit that ball out of the ballpark (in the eighth). I think overall we didn’t win the game, but it wasn’t bad, to be honest with you.”
Mookie Betts wasn’t in the Dodgers’ lineup Friday. Manager Dave Roberts said Betts was in Tennessee to take care of a personal matter, but he is expected to be in Boston on Saturday.
“I think that he’ll be back (Saturday) night around game time,” Roberts said before Friday night’s game. “We’ll kind of see. He’s trying to make sure he gets back as soon as he can. I’m not sure if he’s going to be in the lineup, but he’ll be in town at some point.”
Betts went 7-for-15 (.467) with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs for Los Angeles when it played a three-game series in Boston two years ago. He was on the injured list when the Dodgers played the Red Sox last season.
Left-hander Garrett Crochet (11-4, 2.19 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for Boston on Saturday night. Crochet is 0-1 with an 0.00 ERA in three career appearances (7 2/3 innings) against the Dodgers. Two of those appearances came in relief.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw (4-1, 3.27 ERA) is Los Angeles’ probable starter. Kershaw has never faced the Red Sox during the regular season but was 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in 11 innings against them in the 2018 World Series.
–Field Level Media
