Kiké Hernández suffered a significant tear of his left oblique on May 26, and the Dodgers moved quickly to replace him for the Dodger game roster shuffle that followed. Manager Dave Roberts said Hernández would face another extended absence, while Alex Freeland was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on May 27 to take his spot on the active roster.
Roberts did not give a timetable for Hernández’s return, only that the injury was serious enough to keep him out for a while. The 33-year-old had just come back from a season-opening injured list stint on Monday, after spending the first couple months of the regular season finishing rehab from elbow surgery he had shortly after the World Series.
The loss lands at an awkward moment for Los Angeles. Hernández had started the past two games at third base while Max Muncy dealt with right wrist soreness, and the Dodgers were already thin in the middle infield because Tommy Edman has been out all season recovering from ankle surgery. Roberts said Freeland should get the majority of the second base playing time now that he is back up.
It is a frustrating turn for Hernández, who had given the Dodgers immediate production after returning. He hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the season, drilled a two-run homer on May 27 and was 4-for-4 with three extra-base hits on the year. The Dodgers brought him back at the beginning of Spring Training on a $4.5 million free agent contract, counting on his versatility to steady a roster that has already been forced into several infield adjustments.
The tension now is not whether the Dodgers can find a short-term fill-in. Freeland gives them one. The larger question is how long they can keep patching the same area of the roster before the injuries begin to shape the season around them. Hernández’s latest setback comes after only 20 MLB games back in the fold, and Roberts said the club should plan on a 2-3 week recovery at best, with the possibility that the absence stretches longer than that.
