LOS ANGELES — The stomach virus that sidelined him for most of two weeks might be behind Mookie Betts. But it does not appear to be over for the Dodgers.
Kiké Hernandez would have been in the lineup for Thursday’s home opener against Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, but he was feeling ill and vomiting, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I got a text from him earlier today that he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t sleep well and couldn’t keep stuff down,” Roberts said. “(We’re) trying to just get some fluids in him, rest up, and hopefully we can stay away from him. But let’s just hope that it’s not what Mookie dealt with.”
The fact that Hernandez did not feel ill until after the Dodgers returned from Japan makes them confident it is unrelated to Betts’ illness. Betts started feeling ill during the team’s final days in Arizona before leaving for Tokyo and said he dropped from 175 to 157 pounds over the course of a few weeks.
“It’s something that we would have felt that it would have happened earlier, where Mookie has been on the backside of this, and so I don’t think that’s the case, but I’m not sure,” Roberts said.
Apparently, Betts was not the only player who came down with a stomach virus while the team was still in Arizona. Reliever Michael Kopech did not make the trip to Tokyo and said he was ill before the team’s departure as well – “similar stuff to what Mookie had but probably not as severe.”
Kopech said he had to stop his throwing program briefly but should return to throwing off a mound “soon.”
RELIEVERS REBOUNDING
Both Kopech and Evan Phillips opened the season on the injured list.
Phillips suffered a ligament tear in the back of his shoulder last fall, received a platelet-rich plasma injection during the winter and started his throwing program later than usual.
Phillips has thrown to hitters in live batting practice sessions three times already with two more scheduled for Friday and Monday. Phillips will likely join Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment after that – a rehab assignment he acknowledges could have started sooner but he wanted to be in L.A. for Opening Day and Friday’s championship ring ceremony.
“It’s all gone well to this point,” he said. “If this were a normal spring training, I think I’d be pretty pleased with where I’m at.”
Things have not gone as smoothly for Kopech.
In addition to the stomach virus, Kopech also had some problems as he increased his throwing intensity.
“It was just a little bit tougher to bounce back than it should have been,” Kopech said.
Bothered by discomfort in his forearm and elbow area last fall, Kopech said the pain “kind of crept up to the shoulder” during his attempt to ramp up his throwing in spring training.
“I was feeling good but I don’t think (the shoulder) was ready,” Kopech said of shutting down his throwing in order to do “some strengthening stuff.”
“It’s back to feeling like an actual throwing arm again, so it’s no big deal. Not anything that’s like an actual injury, just little bumps and bruises here and there.”
LINEUP CARD
With Skubal on the mound for the Tigers on Thursday, the Dodgers moved right-handed hitter Teoscar Hernandez up to third in the batting order and dropped left-hander Freddie Freeman to fourth. It’s an alignment Roberts said he might use against certain left-handers – like Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves next week.
“There’s a ‘Teoscar tax’ to get through Freddie the third time,” Roberts said. “Teoscar has been a very good hitter versus left, and it just makes it a decision point, maybe a little bit tougher for a manager, a pitcher, to navigate our lineup with Freddie in the four with a tough lefty.”
At the same time, left-handed Michael Conforto was not in the lineup against Skubal. Roberts has said Conforto will not be platooned. But he wasn’t in the lineup against Chicago Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga in Tokyo until Freeman had to be scratched with a rib injury.
“If I was a left-handed hitter, I wouldn’t mind that (I didn’t have to face Skubal) either,” Roberts said. “He’ll be ready off the bench. And then probably Sale, I’ll give him Sale. But then, outside of that, he’ll be playing against lefties. He’s gonna get plenty of at-bats this year, against lefties too.”
ALSO
The Dodgers acquired right-hander Noah Davis from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations. Davis will join OKC. Emmett Sheehan (Tommy John surgery) was moved to the 60-day injured list in order to clear a 40-man roster spot.
Davis, an Orange County native who played at Huntington Beach High, has a 7.71 ERA over 18 appearances (six starts) with the Colorado Rockies the past three seasons.
UP NEXT
Tigers (RHP Jack Flaherty, 13-7, 3.17 ERA in 2024) at Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-0, 1.80 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM