Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas mentioned he’ll “be ready to go” for Recreation 1 of the Nationwide League Championship Collection in opposition to the New York Mets on Sunday after lacking the ultimate two video games of the division sequence in opposition to the San Diego Padres due to a left-adductor pressure that he aggravated in Recreation 3.
“I didn’t take another [cortisone] injection because I don’t think it’s going to make my leg feel better,” Rojas mentioned after Friday night time’s series-clinching 2-0 win over the Padres. “I think the rest for a couple of days is going to make my leg feel better, and hopefully, I don’t have another setback.”
But even when Rojas is deemed match to start out, he might not be within the lineup for Sunday’s sequence opener in opposition to Mets right-hander Kodai Senga, not after what the person who changed Rojas did within the closing two video games in opposition to the Padres.
Kiké Hernández had two hits, together with a single in a two-run second inning, in Wednesday’s 8-0 Recreation 4 victory in San Diego, and he hit a solo house run within the second inning of a 2-0 series-clinching win at Dodger Stadium.
Hernández, a profession .238 hitter with a .713 on-base-plus-slugging share in 11 big-league seasons, has additionally shined on baseball’s largest stage, with a .277 common and .899 OPS, 14 homers and 30 RBIs in 75 profession postseason video games,
Supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned earlier than Recreation 5 that “I was just going to find a way to get [Hernández] in there” in opposition to San Diego right-hander Yu Darvish, and he might take an analogous strategy in opposition to Senga by beginning the right-handed-hitting Hernández in heart area and switch-hitter Tommy Edman at shortstop.
However with the Mets anticipated to start out two left-handers — Sean Manaea (Recreation 2) and Jose Quintana — within the sequence, the right-handed-hitting Rojas may begin these video games, with Hernández, a flexible utility man, changing the left-handed-hitting Gavin Lux at second base, Max Muncy at third or Edman in heart.
Vesia in limbo
The Dodgers on Saturday had been awaiting MRI take a look at outcomes that would decide if left-hander Alex Vesia, one of many crew’s key relievers, will likely be accessible for the NLCS after he felt cramping in his rib cage whereas finishing his warmups for the eighth inning and was pulled from Friday night time’s sport.
Vesia, who went 5-4 with a 1.76 ERA in 67 regular-season video games and gave up one hit, struck out 4 and walked one in three scoreless innings of three division sequence video games, struck out Jackson Merrill to finish the seventh inning earlier than returning for the eighth.
“I was sitting for a little bit too long, I guess, and my right side cramped up,” Vesia mentioned Friday night time. “I didn’t want to risk pitching through something in such a close, important game. We’ll take it day-by-day, but right now, I’m all right. I plan to keep going.”
Quick hops
It will mark the fourth time the Dodgers and Mets will meet within the postseason. The Mets gained a five-game division sequence in 2015 and swept a three-game division sequence in 2006, however the Dodgers gained a memorable seven-game NLCS in 1988, a sequence that turned on Mike Scioscia’s game-tying two-run homer off Doc Gooden within the ninth inning of Recreation 4 at Shea Stadium. The Dodgers gained 5-4 in 12 innings to even the sequence and went on to beat the Oakland Athletics within the 1988 World Collection, which began with Kirk Gibson’s well-known Recreation 1 walk-off homer off Dennis Eckersley. … Friday night time’s division-series clincher was the eighth winner-take-all sport Roberts managed in, breaking a tie with Bobby Cox and Joe Torre for essentially the most in main league historical past.
