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SAN DIEGO — Kiké Hernandez bats third in Monday night’s series opener against the Padres, the fifth different Dodgers player to hit third in their last six games.
Hernandez has played nearly equally against left-handers (22 plate appearances) and right-handers (21). He’s 3-for-18 against both hands so far this season, but his home run was hit against a right-hander.
Southpaw a Robbie Erlin starts for the Padres, against whom Hernandez was 1-for-3 way back in 2015.
“I like him against the left-hander,” manager Dave Roberts said of Hernandez, a career .265/.360/.505 hitter against southpaws. “He breaks up the lefties [Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger].”
Starting lineups
| Pos | Dodgers | Pos | Padres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Dodgers | Pos | Padres |
| CF | Taylor | LF | Pirela |
| SS | Seager (L) | SS | Galvis (S) |
| 2B | Hernandez | 1B | Hosmer (L) |
| 1B | Bellinger (L) | RF | Renfroe |
| LF | Kemp | 3B | Villanueva |
| C | Grandal (S) | CF | Cordero (L) |
| RF | Puig | 2B | Asuaje (L) |
| 3B | Farmer | C | Hedges |
| P | Ryu | P | Erlin |
Yasiel Puig batted third in each of the Dodgers’ first 10 games, but it has been a carousel of options in the three spot since — Seager, Matt Kemp, Yasmani Grandal, Kemp again, and now Hernandez.
Dodgers No. 3 batters are hitting .217/.273/.250 with no home runs this season, last in MLB in OPS. In 2017 the Dodgers were 14th in OPS from the three spot, hitting .280/.368/.454. They also got 122 starts in that batting order position out of Justin Turner, who is still out with a broken wrist.
“Early on with JT out, we’re trying to figure out the No. 3 spot,” Roberts said. “I don’t think anyone warrants to hit there every single day, to be honest with you.”
Notes
- Kyle Farmer makes his fourth start of the season at third base, and his first since April 4. He is 4-for-14 (.286) with a double this season, with all of his hits coming as a pinch hitter. “I wanted to get him a start. He hasn’t started in a while,” Roberts said. “I like his at-bat quality.”
- Hyun-jin Ryu and Erlin both bat right-handed and throw left-handed, two of just 24 active bat-right, throw-left pitchers in baseball. This is the second straight start for Ryu facing a fellow R/L pitcher, after Sean Manaea last Tuesday.
- Monday is the 19th day of the baseball season and will be the 18th game for the Padres. The Dodgers, who have had one game postponed by rain, are playing their 15th game. It could be worse: the Twins are off Monday for their fourth scheduled off day of 2018 and have also had four games postponed by rain. Minnesota has only played 11 games so far this season.
- The Padres bullpen ranks second in the majors in ERA (1.84) and fifth in strikeout rate (28.7%).