The Dodgers aren’t sure precisely how long Kiké Hernández will be out.
They just know his return won’t be anytime soon.
A day after leaving only his second game of the season with an oblique strain, Hernández had an MRI on Wednesday that revealed a “significant tear” to the side muscle, manager Dave Roberts said.
While Roberts didn’t specify a timeline for Hernández’s return, the utility man could look at an absence of up to two months or more — a particularly brutal blow given he had just returned from missing the first two months of the year while recovering from offseason elbow surgery.
Hernández said he originally tweaked his oblique in batting practice before his long-awaited season debut on Monday but played through it in a 2-for-2 performance that included a double.
On Tuesday, Hernández played again, hitting a home run in his first at-bat, then a double in his next.
By that point, however, his pain had grown noticeably worse, affecting him on defense and while running the bases. He was removed before the start of the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ eventual win over the Rockies.
“I feel pretty defeated right now,” Hernández said following the game.
Hernández was set to officially go on the injured list before Wednesday’s game, with infielder Alex Freeland being called up from Triple-A to replace him on the roster.
Hernández took to Instagram Wednesday afternoon to express his disappointment but added in Spanish: “We keep moving forward! Love you my people.”
Hernández had re-signed with the Dodgers on a one-year, $4.5 million contract this offseason after winning his third World Series with the club last fall.
