Teo Didn’t

There is no kind or gentle way to put it – 32-year-old Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández pretty much single-handedly blew Monday’s game, it’s as simple as that. He even said so himself:

“We were playing no-doubles (defense). Like you say, it’s a big outfield, I was playing pretty far [back]. I tried to make the play. I didn’t,” Hernández told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “It came off my glove, unfortunately. Things happen. I just gotta wash it and just keep moving forward,” he added.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said so, too:

“I thought Yoshi (Dodgers 27-year-old right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto) threw the ball really well and, you know, we should have won that game, certainly it was with the way he pitched,” Roberts told reporters. “And ah, yeah, this was a hard one to kind of put into words.”

This “…hard one to kind of put into words” was the National League West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the National League West last-place Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Monday evening. Teo’s fielding blunder with one out in the bottom of the ninth turned a 3-2 Dodgers lead into a 4-3 Rockies walk-off win.

“I mean, he does, he’s gotta get better out there and um, there’s just no way to put it. Um, yeah, I mean, I know there’s… there’s effort, it’s not a lack of effort, but I think the thing is, is that, you know, we just gotta kind of get better, we do, um, and so, ah yeah, I don’t know what else to say,” a noticeably upset Roberts said of Teo’s misplay.

As for Yoshi throwing the ball “…really well,” the Bizen, Japan native, who the Dodgers signed as a free agent on December 27, 2023, allowed three runs on four hits while striking out six and walking two in his 7.0 innings pitched. Although Yamamoto wasn’t charged with Monday’s loss, he should be 11-8 on the season instead of 10-8.

Fortunately for Roberts’ team, the NL West second-place San Diego Padres also lost on Monday, so there’s that.

Play Ball!

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