As the Dodgers looked to sweep the Colorado Rockies yesterday, they did so without All-Star catcher Will Smith, who was a late scratch before yesterday’s 7:10 start time.
Smith was replaced by Ben Rortvedt, who has been manning most of the catching duties in the wake of the hand injury to Will Smith and leg injury to Dalton Rushing.
The Dodgers later announced that Smith had been scratched due to right-hand soreness.
Wednesday marked Smith’s fifth missed game since he sustained a foul ball to his right hand last Wednesday in Pittsburgh. Although he avoided the injured list, he has been largely absent from the team, with only one start on Tuesday.
After Smith was ruled out for the remainder of their road trip, the Dodgers elected to give Smith another day off on 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.”.
After the Dodgers’ 9-0 win over the Rockies, Dave Roberts provided more clarity on Smith’s injury and expressed the team’s confidence moving forward.
This is literally 15 minutes before the game as he’s getting ready, his hand started to swell up and compromise a little bit as he was getting loose,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So we decided to have him down today, potentially available to hit if we needed to.
“As far as Will, obviously we’re off [Thursday] so we’ll kind of manage him, see how he is, the off day with treatment. And then Friday we’ll make a decision if he plays. Not overly concerned, but we’ve got to get that swelling under wraps.”
The primary problem with Smith’s hand injury is the impact. After batting practice, Smith, who was preparing behind the plate, saw his hand begin to swell.
The Dodgers might choose to give Smith another day off after the break, resulting in three consecutive days without play. This could be advantageous, but they haven’t decided on it yet.
“We thought that he was going to be able to play tonight, but with the setback, we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Roberts said. “I’m not sure. I don’t want to say he’s not going to play Friday, but we’ve got to be pretty confident he can catch two out of three if he’s going to play Friday.”
Roberts mentioned that, although the backstop has already had an X-ray and CT scan, he could undergo an MRI on Thursday. The team hopes it’s only a minor problem.
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