Significant injuries continue to hamper the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mookie Betts became the latest star to go down after a hit-by-pitch in Sunday’s win against the Royals left him with a fractured left hand.
Betts dropped to the ground in pain immediately after a 97.9-mph fastball from Kansas City’s Dan Altavilla struck him near the top of the hand in the seventh inning of the 3-0 victory.
The Dodgers do not know how long Betts will be out, but he won’t require surgery, according to manager Dave Roberts.
“It’s going to be time,” Roberts said. “I don’t know what that means.”
Betts, 31, planned to visit hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin on Monday.
“I think that’s the first time I got hit in the hand, so I wasn’t sure [if it was broken],” Betts said. “I just went numb and it hurt. Unfortunately, it’s broke. There’s nothing really we can do now.”
Through Sunday, Betts ranked fourth among MLB hitters with a .405 on-base percentage, ninth with a .304 batting average and 12th with an .893 OPS.
A six-time Gold Glove winner in right field, Betts moved to shortstop this season. He started 72 of the Dodgers’ first 73 games, batting leadoff in each appearance.
“It’s a big blow,” Roberts said. “I feel really bad for Mookie. He was obviously having an MVP-type season. It’s very unfortunate. You’ve got to move on, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
With Betts out, Roberts said he planned to move fellow superstar Shohei Ohtani into the leadoff spot and expected veteran Miguel Rojas to fill in at shortstop.
The injury to Betts, who finished second in National League MVP voting last year, occurred hours after the Dodgers placed rookie ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the 15-day injured list with a strained rotator cuff.
The Japanese-born Yamamoto joined the Dodgers in December on a 12-year, $325 million contract — the largest, in terms of total value, ever given to a pitcher.
Yamamoto exited Saturday’s game against the Royals after two scoreless innings, which lowered his ERA to 2.92. That was his first start since he hurled seven shutout innings against the Yankees in the Bronx on June 7.
The right-hander, 25, is not going to throw for a couple of weeks, according to Roberts, who said the injury is not season-ending.
Yamamoto’s strain dealt another blow to a Dodgers rotation that has been without longtime ace Clayton Kershaw, who is nearing his 2024 debut after offseason shoulder surgery. Tony Gonsolin underwent Tommy John surgery in February; while fellow starter Dustin May is working his way back from last year’s elbow operation.
Despite the injuries, the Dodgers entered Monday with a 44-29 record and an eight-game lead in the NL West. Betts absence could complicate the Dodgers’ pursuit of one of the NL’s first-round playoff byes, however, as Los Angeles began the day behind the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers.
Betts won American League MVP in 2018 with Boston, making him one of three former MVPs in the Dodgers’ lineup. Ohtani and Freddie Freeman are the others. Kershaw, meanwhile, won NL MVP and one of his three Cy Young Awards in 2014.
“I’ll be watching the boys, cheering them on,” Betts said Sunday. “Other than that, it’s just kind of rest, maybe use it as a mental break and be ready to go whenever it heals up.”
