{"id":5575,"date":"2026-06-08T09:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=5575"},"modified":"2026-06-08T09:59:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:59:02","slug":"dodgers-reveal-neck-concern-for-all-star-catcher-after-sudden-scratch-from-lineup-against-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=5575","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Reveal Neck Concern for All-Star Catcher After Sudden Scratch From Lineup Against Angels&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A few hours before first pitch on Saturday, the Dodgers\u2019 plans at catcher shifted without warning. Will Smith, penciled in to hit sixth and handle Yoshinobu Yamamoto against the Angels, was scratched with a stiff neck. Manager Dave Roberts explained it had developed suddenly after consulting trainer Thomas Albert.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt came out of nowhere,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI had him in there today and then talked to [trainer] Thomas Albert and he said that Will\u2019s kind of grinding through a neck situation. \u2026 I think a bad night\u2019s sleep or a bad pillow. Not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The timing added another wrinkle to a season in which Smith has already dealt with physical setbacks and offensive adjustments. He missed time in late April with a back issue. In late May, Roberts gave him a reset during the Milwaukee series, starting him just once in three games because Smith had been \u201cgrinding\u201d and working on his swing. Roberts wanted to give him space to stand down and refine his mechanics.<\/p>\n<p>Smith pushed back at the time, insisting he was squaring up fastballs but driving them the other way. \u201cHonestly, I feel like I\u2019m hitting fastballs hard,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re just hard to right field. Especially line drives in the gap that are getting caught. Overall, I\u2019ve been hitting the ball hard \u2014 just to right field. I\u2019m not pulling it and we think that\u2019s a mechanical issue. We\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those adjustments still haven\u2019t fully taken hold in June. Through the first four games of the month, Smith went just 2-for-13 with a .543 OPS. Roberts acknowledged earlier this season that he wasn\u2019t sure how much of the wear and tear was accumulating on the three-time All-Star. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Roberts said of the Milwaukee decision. \u201cThere was a little issue earlier in Milwaukee. I wanted to get him to stand down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roberts noted Smith was always going to play just two of the three games in the series anyway. \u201cHe was going to play two out of three regardless,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cSo it\u2019s nice that we could kind of tap Dalton [Rushing] on the shoulder and get him in there.\u201d Smith is expected back in the lineup for Sunday\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n<p>Dalton Rushing finished 0-for-3 with a walk and scored a run, but his real value showed in how he managed the game behind the plate. Yamamoto was dominant, scattering two hits over eight innings with no walks, striking out four and retiring 22 straight batters at one point en route to his sixth win and a 2.68 ERA.<\/p>\n<div class=\"in-article-ad\">\n<div id=\"div_adsconex_banner_responsive_5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Smith remains the clear No. 1 option when healthy \u2014 his experience, framing, and leadership behind the dish are well established. But the neck issue, however minor it appears, serves as another reminder of how quickly the physical demands of catching can pile up. The fact that Los Angeles could absorb the absence, lean on Rushing, and still deliver a statement win speaks to the roster\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"in-article-ad\">\n<div id=\"related-content-block-metaconex\" class=\"js_adsconex_block\" data-site-type=\"metaconex\" data-type=\"ad_block\" data-ad-placement-id=\"71373\">\n<div class=\"adsconex-header\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few hours before first pitch on Saturday, the Dodgers\u2019 plans at catcher shifted without warning. Will Smith, penciled in to hit sixth and handle Yoshinobu Yamamoto&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dodgers Reveal Neck Concern for All-Star Catcher After Sudden Scratch From Lineup Against Angels.... - Sports USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=5575\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dodgers Reveal Neck Concern for All-Star Catcher After Sudden Scratch From Lineup Against Angels.... - Sports USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few hours before first pitch on Saturday, the Dodgers\u2019 plans at catcher shifted without warning. 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