LOS ANGELES — Kyle Tucker didn’t start on Sunday, one day after fouling a ball off his right knee, but the Dodgers right fielder insisted that he felt fine. This was more of a chance to pair a rest day for Tucker with Monday’s scheduled off day for the team.
“[The off day] wasn’t planned. I just felt that after he took one off the knee, this would have been 10 in a row for him,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “He’s playing well, played a lot. It’s a chance to give him two days, then six in a row to finish the season.”
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The injury was in a much higher spot on his leg than the right shin fracture that cost him two months on the injured list during the 2024 season while with the Houston Astros.
Tucker did pinch-hit in the eighth inning on Sunday, and he’s second on the Dodgers in games played (148), starts (141), and plate appearances (602), trailing only Freddie Freeman in all three categories. Tucker is playing the best baseball of his season at the moment with five home runs in his last 10 starts, hitting .417/.500/.972 since September 9.
Notes
Speaking of playing in the outfield on Tuesday, the Dodgers will likely activate center fielder Andy Pages off the injured list to play in the series opener against the San Diego Padres, after he missed the last 27 games after a fastball broke his left hand on August 21.
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Pages at the end of this season will have two years, 155 days of major league service time and will be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player, among the top 70 percent in service time among major leaguers with two years but not yet three years of service time. MLB Trade Rumors last week projected the cutoff for Super Two players this offseason to be two years, 134 days.
Longtime Dodgers third base coach Joey Amalfitano and knuckleballer Charlie Hough were honored on the field at Dodger Stadium prior to Sunday’s game as the 2026 winners of the the Tommy Lasorda I Bleed Dodger Blue Award. This is the fifth year of the award, timed close to Lasorda’s birthday, which is Tuesday.
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