The Dodgers won their first game in the second half of the season on Monday night.
They can only hope it wasn’t accompanied by yet another potentially significant loss.
Though the Dodgers powered their way past the Minnesota Twins 5-2 at Dodger Stadium — hitting four home runs on a night Shohei Ohtani pitched three solid innings (while accounting for one of the long balls himself) and Dustin May followed with 4 ⅔ scoreless innings out of the bullpen — the team was left fretting over a sour final note.
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With one out in the ninth inning, closer Tanner Scott left with a forearm injury, grimacing after spiking a slider in the dirt and flexing his left throwing arm as a trainer accompanied him to the dugout.
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Manager Dave Roberts did not have an update on Scott’s injury afterward. He said the $72-million offseason signing would undergo an MRI scan Tuesday.
“Emotionally, [he is] not well, obviously,” Roberts said. “He just felt something in his forearm, as far as like a stinging sensation. We’re gonna get an MRI tomorrow, and we’ll know more after that. Obviously, anytime a pitcher has to come out of the game, then it’s concerning. So we just gotta sit back and wait for the results to further assess.”
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The Dodgers (59-42) weren’t resigned to a worst-case scenario yet with Scott, who followed a trainer out of the clubhouse after the game without talking to reporters.
Dodgers closer Tanner Scott delivers against the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. (Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
Roberts said initial manual tests and an X-ray on Scott’s arm were “positive” and was holding out hope “it’s something that’s more of a scare.”
Still, Roberts expected Scott to likely go on the injured list at a bare minimum, and said when asked of his overall concern level: “I don’t know … But I’m trying not to go down a spiraling thing with where it could be.”
“It certainly takes a little bit of the joy out of what happened tonight,” Roberts added.
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Indeed, for the first eight innings against the Twins (48-52), the Dodgers evaded the pitfalls that contributed to their three-game losing streak coming out of the All-Star break, and their puzzling 2-10 skid overall over the last couple weeks.
Making his sixth pitching start since returning from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani gave up his first home run of the season to Byron Buxton to lead off the game — only to immediately answer back with a two-run blast of his own in the bottom half of the inning.
The two-way star wasn’t exactly sharp over the rest of his 46-pitch outing, giving up four total hits and plenty of hard contact while struggling to locate as precisely as he had previously this season.
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Still, he prevented further damage, incorporated more splitters to complement his slider and sweeper, and checked the latest box in his methodical buildup; setting himself up for a potential four-inning start his next time out.
“My comfort level wasn’t very good. I think my command wasn’t very good,” Ohtani said in Japanese. But, he added, “I think I’ve progressed well up to this point.”
Will Smith, meanwhile, continued to pick up where he left off in the first half of the season, hitting solo home runs in the fourth and sixth innings while raising his National League-leading batting average to .326.
Andy Pages snapped out of a recent slump by adding another insurance home run in the seventh.
Shohei Ohtani rounds first after hitting a two-run homer Monday against the Twins. Dodgers catcher Will Smith, right, celebrates with Freddie Freeman after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning. Dodgers center fielder James Outman ends the game with a jumping catch at the wall in straightaway center field. Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times
And by the time May gave way to Scott with two outs in the eighth — after scattering five hits in a bulk relief appearance that marked one of his best efforts of the season — it seemed like the Dodgers could cruise the rest of the way.
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Instead, their already injury-plagued season was thrown for another potentially significant loop.
After signing a four-year contract as arguably the top free-agent reliever on the market this offseason, Scott had not lived up to expectations. He entered Monday’s game with a 4.00 earned-run average and only 19 successful saves in 26 opportunities. Before getting hurt, he created a jam by walking one batter and hitting another, setting up Carlos Correa for what was nearly a tying three-run homer later in the inning, only for his fly ball to be snagged by center field James Outman with a leaping grab at the wall.
Still, for a Dodgers team that already saw key right-hander Evan Phillips undergo Tommy John surgery, and is currently without other injured leverage arms in Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol, the possibility of losing Scott would be a major setback.
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Despite his struggles, the veteran southpaw still has premium stuff. And even though the Dodgers have been widely expected to pursue another top reliever before next week’s trade deadline, Scott figured to serve an important role in the bullpen come October.
Now, the club’s injury-ravaged pitching staff might be facing another hole to fill. The front office might have to cast a wider net of potential deadline acquisitions.
“We’ve lost guys, we’re trying to get guys back,” Roberts said. “So to lose him for any length of time is obviously a blow.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
