{"id":791137,"date":"2026-05-12T13:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/791137\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:22:30","slug":"mookie-betts-returns-to-the-dodgers-lineup-after-an-oblique-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/791137\/","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts returns to the Dodgers’ lineup after an oblique injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Mookie Betts returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup Monday night, five weeks after being sidelined with an oblique injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The eight-time All-Star went 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout hitting second behind Shohei Ohtani<\/a> and ahead of Freddie Freeman in a 9-3 loss<\/a> in the series opener against the San Francisco Giants. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to make sure we swing at good pitches,\u201d Betts said before the game. \u201cThose guys are good, too. They drive nice cars, too. We just have to control the zone, swing at good pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have dropped eight of their last 12 games and were looking for Betts to help jumpstart a stagnant offense. They have scored three runs or fewer in nine of those 12 games.<\/p>\n

“I know I\u2019m not the hero,\u201d said Betts, the 2018 AL MVP. \u201cIt\u2019s important for everyone to know it\u2019s going to take all of us and not just one guy getting through their struggles or whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betts was batting .179 (5 for 28) with two home runs in eight games before he went on the injured list April 5 with a right oblique strain.<\/p>\n

“I just didn\u2019t really realize how long it takes for it to really heal,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt pretty good pretty fast actually. But just some of the movements I couldn\u2019t do kind of lingered for a long time. I was trying to hurry but obviously the doctors were saying it just takes a month for it to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Betts would start at shortstop Monday and Tuesday before taking Wednesday off. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter seven days, six days, I think he\u2019s going to want to be in there regularly, but we\u2019ll kind of see,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Betts was on a tear in spring training, hitting .357 with a .786 OPS in five games before briefly leaving the team for the birth of his third child. He cooled off the first two weeks of the regular season before getting hurt.<\/p>\n

Roberts is taking a wait-and-see approach toward Betts’ offense. The 33-year-old shortstop was 2 for 5 in two minor league rehab games.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly two games of rehab, taking batting practice, a day of live at-bats, is not ideal,\u201d the manager said, \u201cbut I think with Mookie you just don\u2019t know. The hope is that he can kind of hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Betts’ return, infielder Alex Freeland was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was hitting .235 with two homers and eight RBIs in 33 games. <\/p>\n

The front office chose to keep second baseman Hyeseong Kim over Freeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it came down to is Hyeseong has performed better,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Mookie Betts returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup Monday night, five weeks after…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":791138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[130300,3881,53210,130299,1578,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-791137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ap-online-sports-headlines","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-ap-top-news-l-twc-regions","11":"tag-ap-top-news-sports","12":"tag-associated-press","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116561821506176507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}