Mookie Betts has ‘turned a corner’ with stomach virus, could play in Dodgers’ home opener
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Mookie Betts might be ready for the Dodgers’ home opener after all.
Despite being scratched from the team’s Freeway Series exhibition game Sunday, and held out of the lineup again Monday at Angel Stadium, the converted shortstop reported improved symptoms following a workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon, manager Dave Roberts said, raising hopes that Betts will make his season debut in Thursday’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers.
“Really encouraged,” Roberts said. “I do think that Mookie has turned a corner.”
Betts missed the Dodgers’ opening two games in Japan last week while battling a stomach virus, one that is believed to be a case of norovirus, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly. Betts said he had lost almost 20 pounds over the course of his illness, which began a few days before the team left for Japan earlier this month. He was scratched shortly before first pitch Sunday, he said, because he needed to throw up after trying to eat solid food.
Five months after his walk-off grand slam to win Game 1 of the World Series, the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman is still absorbing the impact of it on fans — a feeling Kirk Gibson understands.
“I’m tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all this,” Betts said Sunday. “Every time — literally, every time — I fuel my body, I throw up.”
On Monday, however, Roberts said Betts was not only able to keep down solid food, but felt good after a workout that included both defensive drills at shortstop (the position Betts is returning to on a full-time basis this season) and batting practice.
Betts is now scheduled to play in Tuesday’s Freeway Series finale. If that goes well, he should be in the lineup Thursday, when the Dodgers’ regular-season schedule resumes.
“I think it was getting to be pretty concerning, because there really isn’t something to compare what he was going through,” Roberts said of Betts’ illness, which lingered so long that the 32-year-old went for bloodwork to rule out anything more serious. “But talked to him on his way home today. He said he feels great. And expect him to play tomorrow. So right now, we’re in a good spot.”
The Dodgers are also confident that first baseman Freddie Freeman, who also missed both Tokyo games after a flare-up in the same area of his ribs he suffered torn cartilage during last year’s postseason, is past his issue.
One full-season World Series championship is just not enough for the Dodgers. Not for these kinds of players. Not for these heaps of money. Not for these sorts of fans.
Freeman has played in both Freeway Series games this week, and said Monday he believes that his rib discomfort was simply the result of breaking up scar tissue that had built up where last October’s injury had healed. He made enough progress by the time returned home from Japan, he added, that he didn’t even need to go for an MRI scan.
“Hopefully it will be an afterthought by Thursday,” Freeman said. “I was able to hit in the cage and do whatever I wanted to on the day of Game 2 [in Japan]. But just didn’t know, game-speed, if it would make it come up again. So I thought we ultimately made the right decision.”
Glasnow shines in final tune-up
Tyler Glasnow finished his spring campaign on a dominant note, striking out nine batters over five innings while giving up just one run in the Dodgers’ 5-4 walk-off loss to the Angels on Monday at Angel Stadium.
After giving up a home run to Taylor Ward to start his night, Glasnow went into cruise control, mowing through the Angels’ lineup with a fastball that averaged more than 96 mph and a curveball/slider combination that accounted for 11 of his 14 whiffs.
“He was in rhythm all night long,” Roberts said. “Delivery was consistent. The curveball was really good. The fastball commanded. He was just in sync. That was really good to see.”
Though he went 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA in his first Dodgers season last year, earning his first career All-Star selection, Glasnow wasn’t always so synced up. At times, he would get “too mechanical” on the mound, letting his thoughts wander to the way his body was moving rather than simply executing pitches. He and the team believe it might have been a contributing factor in his late-season elbow injury, too, the result of Glasnow being unable to repeat his delivery consistently down the stretch.
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This spring, however, Glasnow has been focused on taking a more “athletic” mindset on the mound. Monday, he said, might have been the best example yet.
“[My thoughts] are more external-focused,” he said. “Like, if I’m trying to bury a slider, it’s, ‘All right, I need to go bury a slider,’ as opposed to, ‘That last one felt a little over-rotational’ … As long as I can have an external focus in the zone, as opposed to thinking about all my body parts, it usually goes a lot better.”
Roberts concurred.
“I thought there was a lot of clarity, conviction in every single throw that he made,” the manager said. “It just kind of lets his talent come forth. He wasn’t really overthinking things.”
Glasnow’s regular-season debut will come next week against the Atlanta Braves. Blake Snell will pitch Thursday, and will be followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki — who pitched the team’s two regular-season openers in Japan — over the rest of the Detroit series.
Shohei Ohtani also will see some time on the mound this week — in the bullpen. Roberts said Ohtani will throw a bullpen session Saturday, marking his first time on the mound since Feb. 25. Roberts still isn’t committing to a timeline on how long Ohtani’s ramp-up as a pitcher might take.
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