LOS ANGELES — The situation didn’t merely call for a pinch-hitter on Wednesday night. It screamed for one.
The Dodgers trailed the New York Mets, 3-0, in the seventh inning when Andy Pages smoked a double into the left-field corner and Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch, putting two on with one out against Mets left-hander Jose Castillo.
On the bench for the Dodgers was right-handed-hitting starting catcher Will Smith, who was batting .323 with a .920 OPS, five home runs and 31 RBIs and had a .440 average (22 for 50) with two homers and 28 RBIs with runners in scoring position.
But Manager Dave Roberts stuck with the left-handed-hitting Dalton Rushing, the rookie who was making his seventh start behind the plate since his May 14 callup. Rushing struck out, Kiké Hernández struck out, and the Dodgers went on to lose, 6-1.
Roberts resisted the temptation to hit for Rushing because he’s trying to play the long game with Smith, to keep his starter healthy and productive all season.
With the Dodgers on the front end of a stretch in which they’ll play 23 games in 24 days, it was more important to give Smith a complete night off rather than play him for two innings behind the plate.
“I’ve used Will to hit many times, and he has come into catch after that, but it’s the seventh inning,” Roberts said Thursday. “Then it goes from two [games] in a row to five in a row, and he doesn’t get a day off.”
Smith has been used as a pinch-hitter six times this season, going 3 for 6 with an RBI in those situations, and he has finished each of those games behind the plate. He made his 44th start at catcher in Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Mets.
Though Smith, who had an RBI single in a three-run third inning on Thursday, is on track to make his third straight All-Star team, Roberts wants to pace him now so he can get more out of him later.
Smith hit .272 with an .838 OPS, 15 homers and 55 RBIs in 80 games before the All-Star break last season, but he battled a bone bruise in his left ankle for much of the second half and hit .206 with a .626 OPS, five homers and 20 RBIs after the break.
“There is still the one game, the one particular moment, that he probably is a better option, but then there’s a cost going forward – what does that look like?” Roberts said of Smith. “I’m not prepared to play that game all the time, and certainly, I wasn’t [Wednesday] night.”
ROLE REDUCTION
Rushing, the Dodgers’ 2024 Minor League Player of the Year, hit .277 with a .931 OPS, 54 homers and 185 RBIs in 265 minor league games over four seasons, but he has struggled to adjust to a part-time role in the big leagues, batting .233 with a .625 OPS, one homer, seven RBIs, 16 strikeouts and one walk in nine games for the Dodgers.
“I think the catching part of it has been fantastic,” Roberts said. “Certainly, he’s used to getting hits, which have been more difficult [to come by]. But this is the role. We have an All-Star catcher, so he has to make the adjustment as a young player. It’s certainly not easy, but he’s getting some runway and some opportunities.”
ALSO
Roberts said relievers Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates responded well to Wednesday’s workout in which each threw 15-20 pitches to hitters, and he expects both right-handers to be activated for this weekend’s series in St. Louis. Kopech, a bullpen force during last year’s World Series run, has been sidelined all season because of a shoulder impingement. Yates went on the 15-day injured list because of a right hamstring strain on May 18. … Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor suffered a broken pinky toe on his right foot when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning on Wednesday night, and he did not start Thursday’s game with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza calling him day-to-day. … Freddie Freeman also didn’t start Thursday, a planned day off for the Dodgers first baseman.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Justin Wrobleski, 1-1, 8.00 ERA) at St. Louis (RHP Sonny Gray, 6-1, 3.65 ERA), Friday, 5:15 p.m., PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM