Dodgers notes: Position player usage, Mookie Betts’ slump, Gavin Lux’s resurgence

Sunday marked the first time in nine games this season that the Dodgers used more than 10 position players in a game. Hanser Alberto played the final three innings at third base and batted twice, driving in his first run as a Dodger. Edwin Ríos got two at-bats after taking over at designated hitter from Justin Turner, then moved to first base for the ninth inning, giving Freddie Freeman a very brief respite before a big three-game series against his old team.

Moving Ríos out of the DH spot meant technically pitcher Justin Bruihl took Freeman’s lineup spot. Had the Reds overcome an eight-run deficit, Bruihl would have batted fifth in the bottom of the ninth. But Cincinnati did not score, giving the Dodgers a series sweep and their sixth straight win.

It capped off a 6-0 week, one you might call perfect, even.

Links

• Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register wrote about Mookie Betts’ early slump, his day off Saturday, and the well-founded belief that Betts will turn things around soon enough.
• Juan Toribio at MLB.com in his latest Dodgers newsletter wrote about Gavin Lux’s hot start.
• J.P. Hoornstra at the OC Register talked to some Dodgers relief pitchers about some low velocity readings in the early going after a shortened spring training.
• Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times profiled Chet Brewer, the former Negro Leagues star pitcher who later coached several future major leaguers growing up in and around Los Angeles, including Reggie Smith, Bob Watson, Dock Ellis, and Willie Crawford. Negro Leagues historian Phil Dixon told Harris, “In my estimation, Chet affected Black guys coming to the major leagues more than any other single African American individual.”
• ESPN re-ran a 1951 article from Milton Gross at SPORT Magazine about Jackie Robinson finding his voice over the first five years with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Andrew Heaney’s new pitch has been quite effective: