How Teoscar Hernández fixed his swing to help

CINCINNATI — A simple change opened up a dramatic offensive turnaround for Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández.

Hernández’s two-run homer Tuesday, in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win against the Reds, was his second home run in as many nights, as the crew trimmed its magic quantity to clinch the division to one behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s seven innings of one-hit ball. And, considerably, this one was against a right-handed pitcher.

“It’s been very helpful,” supervisor Dave Roberts said after the sport. “As certain guys are not seeing the ball as well, it’s nice to kind of backfill with guys like Teo swinging the bat. And when you can slug like he can, you can win baseball games, and he can carry us for a while. And the last 10 days, something like that, it’s been really good from him.”

Through the end of August, Hernández had just a .668 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season. So, when Roberts was requested in Detroit whether or not the Dodgers would take into account setting up a left-field platoon with the crew’s September call-ups, he said yes.

Hernández homered off Tigers left-hander Framber Valdez on the last day of the sequence. And before the Dodgers opened a three-game set against the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium, Hernández met with the hitting coaches.

Against Valdez, Hernández was in a closed stance, to delay his entrance hip from opening, according to Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates. But the crew’s hitting group thought a return to a acquainted setup could possibly be a long-term answer.

“It was a great meeting we had,” Bates said. “We all talked about it, and then he felt comfortable enough to do it, and then the rest is to his credit. He’s just been who he is.”

In the past, Hernández had used a “twister tap” as his stride. He began in a more open stance, tapped his toe in line with the pitcher, and then set his foot down. But lower-body accidents the last couple of years — a left groin pressure last season and a left hamstring pressure earlier this season — compelled him away from it.

His improved health and hip flexibility opened up the avenue for him to return to that timing mechanism.

“When Teo’s hips are loose that way, and his front leg looks like an Elvis knee, it’s a good sign for us,” Bates said. “Because that means that he can open and close it without his upper body going with it.”

The benefit of the tornado faucet, as Hernández explained it, is how repeatable it’s. A more conventional stride might be sped up or slowed down.

“Just being able to control my body and being in a good position,” Hernández said earlier this month. “I can see the pitch a little sooner and identify what kind of pitch it is and if it’s going to be a strike or a ball.”

With that change, he’s rewarded the Dodgers for deciding against platooning left discipline. Hernández entered Tuesday with a .777 OPS against right-handed pitchers — a pattern measurement of just 28 plate appearances but still a vital leap.

“The biggest thing is his plate coverage away,” Bates said. “Because now he can spoil pitches, and he’s staying in at-bats longer.”

Hernández’s dramatic offensive turnaround, along with fellow nook outfielder Kyle Tucker’s enchancment, have helped regular a Dodgers offense that’s lacking Shohei Ohtani (on the IL with proper biceps and left knee accidents) and contains a hobbled Freddie Freeman (proper knee soreness).

Rookie Josue De Paula, largely filling in for Ohtani at designated hitter, has already shown he can take mature at-bats and present some pop. But he’s still discovering his footing in a new league.

It lengthens the Dodgers lineup for Hernández, after a slow start to his yr, to return to being a veteran energy menace — just in time to, ideally, carry the momentum into the postseason.

On Monday, he launched his two-run shot off left-hander Nick Lodolo. On Tuesday, he replicated the feat off right-hander Rhett Lowder.

On the second pitch of the at-bat, Hernández acknowledged a hung slider, and he roped it over the left-field fence at 109.3 mph, according to Statcast. The blast put the Dodgers up 3-0 in the third inning, with Dodgers starter Yamamoto settling into a groove on the other aspect.

Yamamoto had walked the first two batters he confronted, but he reined in his control to pitch seven scoreless innings and enable just one more baserunner, on a double by Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz.

The Dodgers also scored on Hunter Feduccia’s second-inning single and Alex Freeland’s seventh-inning homer. And the Dodgers bullpen accomplished the shutout.

Freeman staying in the lineup

Freeman was all smiles after his three-hit sport Tuesday — after going hitless for his last 4 video games.

“I was supposed to be off tomorrow, but I played myself in there,” he said. “So I’m very excited.”

Roberts explained: “He was joking, saying, ‘If I get three hits, then can I be in there tomorrow?’”

Sure enough, the mechanical changes he made in the batting cage — focusing on getting his foot down early and making contact out in entrance — obtained him there.

“I’m just trying to find something that gives me results,” Freeman said. “We’re at the time where we’re just trying to get hot for five weeks here. So kind of like I did in the World Series a couple years ago, I did the step-out move. That’s not sustainable over six months. I’m not trying to find something that’s sustainable.”

Though Roberts has been making an attempt to discover alternatives to relaxation Freeman, he noticed promising indicators Tuesday past the outcomes.

“Just my eyes, just watching him move, I feel good about him going tomorrow,” Roberts said.

De Paula, Freeland and third baseman Max Muncy can be out of the lineup Wednesday, Roberts said.