WEST SACRAMENTO — Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts was scratched from the team’s lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Athletics shortly before first pitch because of a wrist issue, manager Dave Roberts said.
Roberts said Betts was dealing with soreness and a lack of strength in his wrist leading up to the game, prompting the Dodgers to “err on the side of caution” and remove him from the lineup.
The setback comes at an especially disappointing time for Betts, who was just starting to rediscover his swing after missing a month earlier this year with an oblique strain.
Entering Wednesday, Betts was hitting .373 over his last 16 games with five home runs, four doubles and 11 RBIs.
During that time, he had raised his season batting average from .181 to .244 and his OPS from .591 to .744.
He had also been playing standout shortstop, ranking second at the position with eight defensive runs saved.
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With Betts out Wednesday, Miguel Rojas was inserted into the lineup in his place.
That wasn’t the only discouraging injury news out of the Dodgers on Wednesday, with Roberts also saying that catcher Will Smith is unlikely to return before the All-Star break. Smith has been out since June 5 with a neck injury that was initially expected to be short term but is now set to sideline him for well over a month.
Roberts maintained the Dodgers’ belief that Smith’s issue — which the catcher described as an inflamed disk in his neck when he first went on the injured list — won’t be too long term but acknowledged surprise at what is already becoming an extended timeline to return.
“It’s certainly longer than I know was expected,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s an affecting-the-season type of thing.”
