It was a painful night for the Dodgers on Tuesday.
Despite blowing out the Colorado Rockies, the team lost Kiké Hernández to a left oblique strain, then later pulled Shohei Ohtani early after he was hit by a pitch in his right throwing hand.
Hernández suffered the much more obvious –– and, at least initially –– concerning injury.
Having just returned on Monday from offseason elbow surgery that sidelined him for the first two months of the year, and having just hit his first home run of the season in the third inning in Tuesday night’s game, Hernández appeared to get hurt on a double he launched to deep center field in the fourth.
The veteran utilityman looked in discomfort as he pulled into second base on the play. He was removed from the game a half-inning later. As he sat on the bench, the SNLA broadcast showed him having an emotional conversation with manager Dave Roberts in the dugout.
While the severity of his injury wasn’t immediately clear, oblique strains often require injured-list stints.
Ohtani, meanwhile, was hit in his hand by an 85.2 mph changeup the at-bat immediately after Hernández got hurt in the fourth.
He, too, stayed in the game at first, despite clearly grimacing as he reeled out of the batter’s box. The next time his spot in the order came up, however, he was pinch-hit for in the DH spot by Dalton Rushing.
The potential good news for Ohtani: He was seemingly struck on a padded equipment guard rather than his pitching hand directly.
With his next pitching start scheduled for the series finale on Wednesday, it’s possible his removal was more precautionary. But the Dodgers did not immediately provide a status update on him.