Mookie Betts was the first Dodgers position player out on the field Tuesday, walking to a spot near the third-base foul line and kneeling on a mat before a coach, who began hitting soft ground balls to his right and left.
It’s a drill Betts does regularly to improve his defense. Betts’ defense, however, really isn’t a problem for the Dodgers.
A six-time Gold Glove winner in right field, Betts moved to shortstop full-time this season, turning his old position over to Teoscar Hernández. And his defense has been a problem. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he isn’t planning any changes to his lineup for the time being.
“Are we playing our best defensive lineup? No,” Roberts said. “But I would say there’s very few teams in the big leagues playing their best defensive lineup every night. Even in a postseason race, you’ve still got to score.”
The Dodgers are in a postseason race and Hernández helps them score, ranking second on the team in home runs (20) and RBIs (75) after going two for five with a run and an RBI in Tuesday’s 11-4 rout of the Colorado Rockies. He also made two nice running catches.
But Hernández’s defense sometimes helps the other team score too, so Roberts is keeping his fingers crossed that will change.
“There’s been times that he’s played a formidable right field,” he said. “I think he’s going to get back to that. I really do.”
Read more: Dave Roberts says Dodgers haven’t discussed moving Mookie Betts to right field
The Dodgers didn’t need much defense Tuesday, pounding out 18 hits with every starter reaching base as least once. Alex Call led the way with a career-high four hits, including a home run and a double, scoring three runs and driving in two others.
Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Betts and Miguel Rojas joined Hernández and Call with multiple hits for the Dodgers, who scored eight of their 11 runs with two out.
As for Betts, entering Tuesday his fielding percentage was tied for fourth among National League shortstops who have played at least 25 games at the position, but the mental strain of playing the position may be hurting his offensive numbers, which are career lows across the board. A .290 lifetime hitter, Betts went two for six Tuesday, raising his average to .243.
So, Roberts was asked, wouldn’t the Dodgers be better offensively and defensively with Betts in right field, Hernández in left and Rojas at short?
“That’s a fair question,” he answered. “But you know, I don’t think that we’re there quite yet.”
Especially not Tuesday, when the Dodgers took a 2-0 first-inning lead and never looked back. Smith got the rally started, walking with two out, then scoring on Freeman’s double to right center. Hernández followed with a double of his own, scoring Freeman.
Read more: Mookie Betts meets with Dave Roberts, Andrew Friedman after Dodgers’ loss to Rockies
The Dodgers doubled the lead in the second on solo homers from Call and Shohei Ohtani. For Call, his 453-foot blast was the longest by a Dodger this season while for Ohtani the homer, his 44th of the season, extended his streak of reaching base to 17 straight games.
The lead grew to 7-0 in the third on two-out run-scoring singles by Call, Rojas and Buddy Kennedy. The RBI for Kennedy was his first since joining the Dodgers last week while the seven runs were the most the team had scored in a game in 10 days — and there were still six innings to play.
Starter Emmet Sheehan didn’t need nearly that much support, breezing into the fourth before Brenton Doyle got the Rockies on the scoreboard with a two-out, two-run homer to left-center. Kyle Karros, the son of former Dodger first baseman Eric Karros. added two more with a two-out, two-run homer — his first as a major leaguer — in the sixth.
The Dodgers answered with three runs in the top of the seventh. Sheehan (4-2) didn’t come out for the bottom of the inning, matching a career high by going six innings, striking out a season-best seven batters to earn the win.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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