The Dodgers were two outs away from forcing extra innings against the Rockies on Monday night, when Ezequiel Tovar popped up to shallow right field off of Justin Wrobleski. Teoscar Hernández, playing further back, made a mad dash for it, but it was pretty clear that he didn’t have a good read on that ball.
He reached low to the ground to try and snag it, but he was late. It hit the webbing of his glove and then caromed out of it, allowing Tovar to reach second base safely and giving rookie Warming Bernabel the chance to walk things off.
And that’s exactly what he did. Two pitches later, Bernabel sent a ground ball up the middle to score Tovar, and the mighty Dodgers fell to the below-.300 Rockies. (Luckily, the Padres also lost to the Giants that night, allowing LA to maintain their slim two-game lead).
Hernández has never been a plus defender, and has actually been one of the worst defensive outfielders in the game over his last two seasons. His bat has been able to distract from that, but there’s no hiding when a misplay directly leads to a loss.
Dave Roberts said after the game, “He’s got to get better out there. There’s just no way to put it. I know there’s effort — it’s not a lack of effort. But the thing is, we’ve just got to get better. We do.”
Absolutely inexcusable
Dodgers lost on the very next at bat because of this
Teoscar Hernandez should not spend another inning playing right field the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/t583OwMX2g
https://twitter.com/BlakeHHarris/status/1957640165226344875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Teoscar Hernández’s awful misplay directly led to Dodgers’ loss against Rockies
According to Statcast, the catch probability on the fly ball was 99.4%, which makes it even harder to stomach the more you watch that replay.
Dodgers fans were (rightfully) incensed, and there were renewed calls to put Mookie Betts back in right field. It would push Hernández to left and Michael Conforto out, but you wouldn’t hear anyone complaining about that.
The Dodgers have made it pretty clear that they prioritize offense over defense, and sometimes that works out for them, but then you have plays like Hernández’s that have LA looking a little too much like the Yankees team that just gave away the World Series last year.
This series against the Rockies was supposed to be an opportunity for the Dodgers to notch an easy sweep and put more distance between themselves and the Padres in the NL West standings. They still have three games to play, but a single play cost them a key incremental step forward. Can’t happen again.
