Will Smith was a late scratch from the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, with Ben Rortvedt instead making the start behind the plate.
The change wasn’t made public until lineups were announced over the public address system at Dodger Stadium. Smith was due to bat third against Rockies southpaw Kyle Freeland.
The Dodgers announced Smith was scratched due to right hand soreness.
Wednesday instead became Smith’s fifth game missed since taking a foul ball off his right hand. Smith was hit by the foul ball on Sept. 3 and wound up being removed from the game one inning later. He’s avoided the injured list to this point but been limited by a bone bruise.
After Smith was ruled out through the remainder of their road trip, the Dodgers elected to give Smith another day off Monday.
“Looking at this series and saying he’s going to play two of three. So if it’s going to be two of three, then let’s give an extra day, and then we have an off day on Thursday,” Roberts explained at the time.
“So hopefully being able to go back-to-back, I don’t think that’ll be a problem, and then with the off day Thursday, we should be able to kind of put this behind us is kind of the thought.”
Smith now is going to get two days off before the Dodgers begin a stretch of playing 10 consecutive games. It’s comprised of matchups with the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies.
Dodgers lineup without Will Smith
DH: Shohei Ohtani
SS: Mookie Betts
RF: Teoscar Hernández
1B: Freddie Freeman
CF: Tommy Edman
2B: Miguel Rojas
LF: Andy Pages
3B: Kiké Hernández
C: Ben Rortvedt
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