Even Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who’d never be accused of wearing his emotions on his sleeve, was a little worried during his months-long IL stint for a persistent neck injury that he might not be healthy by the end of the season.
“‘It was kind of the ‘who knows how long it’s going to take,’” Smith said when the Dodgers activated him at the beginning of the month. “But at some point I was going to be fed up and just kind of deal with it.”
It apparently didn’t come to that. And in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Smith’s fifth time in the lineup since returning from the injured list, he put the Dodgers ahead with a first-inning home run and guided Dodgers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal through 7 ⅓ innings of two-run ball.
A neck issue that was initially expected to resolve on its own in a few days turned into a nearly three-month IL stint. With the revolving door behind the plate in Smith’s absence, getting him back down the stretch and into the postseason was going to be key.
While Smith was on the IL, backup catcher Dalton Rushing was thrown into the starting role, learning how to balance the defensive responsibility of serving as the main backstop at the major-league level with a desire to also contribute offensively.
Rushing seemed to be getting the hang of it, with Chuckie Robinson and then Eliezer Alfonzo behind him, before he hurt his right elbow right before the trade deadline. The Dodgers traded for an entirely new catching duo, Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt, who held down the position until Smith’s return.
“It was frustrating early,” Smith said. “Just looking for answers why it was taking longer, but we finally got those answers. And then it was kind of a pretty straightforward process from there. So last month or two hasn’t been too bad.”
Smith and the Dodgers sought multiple doctors’ opinions. He was eventually diagnosed with an annular tear and given two possible recovery timelines. Though they proceeded with hope for the earlier return, the longer one came to fruition.
Now, the Dodgers are carrying three catchers, trying not to overwork Smith in his first weeks back. With Rushing back on the IL for the same elbow injury, Feduccia can also serve as a left-handed bat off the bench, and Alfonzo gives the team more substitution flexibility.
Entering Tuesday, Smith had already thrown out three baserunners attempting to steal in his first week back in action. But his bat was slower to come around. He went two-for-17 with a single and a double in the same time period.
On Tuesday, batting third in the lineup against Reds left-handed starting pitcher Nick Lodolo, he showcased the kind of impact he can have on both sides of the ball.
In Smith’s first at-bat, he battled for nine pitches, finally lifting a changeup over the left field wall.
The next inning the Dodgers (88-57) doubled their score when Tommy Edman — hitting in the leadoff spot in place of Shohei Ohtani (right biceps and left knee), who was out of the lineup Tuesday as the Dodgers ease him back from a four-day absence over the weekend — was hit in the leg by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Reds then tied the score in the third, as Elly De La Cruz launched a two-run homer off Skubal. But the Dodgers pulled ahead again two innings later, courtesy of the red-hot bat Teoscar Hernández has been swinging in September.
Hernández avenged his ill-fated inside-the-park home run attempt — he was thrown out at the plate on an aggressive send two innings earlier — with a well-struck RBI single.
Skubal wrapped up his deepest start of his Dodgers tenure to a standing ovation. He’d limited the Reds to just four hits, while recording five strikeouts in an efficient performance.
Flame-throwing reliever Edgardo Henriquez replaced Skubal, tasked with recording the last two outs of the eighth. He did so with the help of an ABS challenge from Smith that secured an inning-ending strikeout.
Lefty Tanner Scott earned the save, retiring three straight batters after a leadoff walk, and the Dodgers extended their winning streak to six games.
“It’s the last stretch,” Smith said at the beginning of the month. “We’re fighting for seeding as well. So yeah, it’s definitely time to step on the gas.”
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