Injuries and slumps hit every major league team, but the Los Angeles Dodgers’ depth helps the club deal with those setbacks.
Max Muncy has been out for more than a month with a right oblique strain, Chris Taylor is struggling and rookie sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the injured list with a strained rotator cuff after exiting his start on Saturday night.
Then the news got worse for Los Angeles. Shortstop Mookie Betts suffered a fractured left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Kansas City. The 2018 American League MVP will join Muncy and Yamamoto on the Dodgers’ injured list but won’t need surgery, the team announced.
Despite that, Los Angeles securely is in first place in the National League West and will look to add to its lead on Monday when it opens a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver.
The Dodgers will send left-hander James Paxton (6-1, 3.92 ERA) to the mound on Monday against Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill (6-4, 3.30).
Los Angeles has dropped four of its past seven games and heads to Denver trying to continue its dominance of the Rockies. The Dodgers have won 16 of the past 23 games between the NL West rivals, including taking two of three in Los Angeles on May 31-June 2.
Taylor has had success against Colorado, batting .274 with 17 home runs in 93 games. He has struggled to get started this season, however, as he is batting .108 and didn’t hit his first home run until Friday night. The veteran is trying to keep perspective as he works through his struggles.
“I try to just take it day by day,” Taylor said. “I’ve definitely had my moments of frustration, but just trying to embrace the process and trust that my work is going to eventually come through for me.”
Paxton is having a bounce-back season, his first with the Dodgers, and will face the Rockies for the sixth time in his career. He is 1-3 with a 3.65 ERA in his previous five starts against them.
Colorado, coming off an 8-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, has been successful against winning teams at home. The Rockies swept the Texas Rangers in May and won series against the Cleveland Guardians and Philadelphia Phillies in the past six weeks.
Quantrill has been a factor in Colorado’s turnaround from an 8-28 start. He lost his first three decisions but has bounced back to go 6-1 since the start of May. His one loss in the stretch was at Los Angeles on June 1 when he allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings.
He has struggled against the Dodgers in his career, going 1-4 with a 7.89 ERA in five appearances (four starts).
The Rockies have been up and down offensively, scoring 16 runs Saturday night but managing just four total in the other two games against Pittsburgh. A positive out of Sunday’s loss was the three hits by Nolan Jones, who finished the series 4-for-8 after missing six weeks with a low back strain.
“Hopefully this is a good sign,” manager Bud Black said. “We need Nolan to be a big part of our lineup.”
–Field Level Media