Steve Webb
DENVER — Cody Bellinger just can’t seem to buy a break this season. Or, maybe it’s better to say, Cody Bellinger is getting more than his share of “breaks”, as once again, the struggling former MVP is headed for the Injured List. This time, it’s with a left rib fracture.
Cody was put in the starting lineup when manager Dave Roberts filled out his card before Tuesday’s game with Colorado, but after consulting with the training staff and Belli himself, it was decided that the prudent move was to go with the IL move. The team made the move Tuesday just before its game in Colorado against the Rockies and backdated the decision to Saturday. This would mean that the earliest Cody could rejoin the team would be sometime during the final homestand of the year.
The Dodgers recalled outfielder Luke Raley from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Bellinger was banged up in a collision with Gavin Lux last week. Bellinger missed 46 games this season with a calf injury and seven more with hamstring tightness. The 2019 National League MVP is batting .159 this season with nine homers and 34 RBIs, though of late he had been experimenting with his swing, and it seemed to have finally been bearing some fruit. Now, all that will be put on hold.
“It’s not ideal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Bellinger’s going on the injured list this late in the season. “But neither is being in too much pain to feel you can perform at a certain level. If that’s the case and that’s where we get to, we’ll have to figure out how to make the most of it.”
The good news is that AJ Pollock will be activated on Thursday. Between Pollo, Betts, Taylor, and our new work-in-progress Gavin Lux, we should have the outfield pretty well covered, so I don’t imagine Raley will be around for long at the big league level. However Belli has struggled at the plate, it is nice to have his elite glove around late in games. We will see how Dave Roberts plays it going forward…
