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Kiké Hernández admitted he initially tried to conceal his left oblique strain before the Dodgers shut him down, per Dodger Blue. Hernández, whose return from the 60-day injured list lasted just four at-bats across two games, attempted to test the injury during batting practice on Tuesday but couldn’t push through it. He expressed clear disappointment in himself for trying to hide the issue rather than flagging it immediately.

Hernández’s situation is especially gut-wrenching given the context. He spent months grinding back from a torn ACL and meniscus suffered late in the 2025 season — an injury he later revealed he had been playing through for weeks before it finally gave out. When he returned to the lineup on Sunday night, he looked sharp, collecting two hits and sparking the Dodgers’ comeback win over the Rockies. He was pulled for a pinch-hitter Monday, and then removed early Tuesday after the oblique flared up. To go from that emotional high back to the injured list in roughly 48 hours is brutal, and Hernández clearly felt the weight of it.

The instinct to hide the injury tracks with everything we know about Hernández. He’s a player who has always prioritized availability — sometimes to a fault. During the 2025 postseason run, he gutted through knee issues that most players would have sat out for. That mentality is part of what makes him valuable in October, but it also creates situations like this one, where a minor issue can become a bigger problem if it’s not addressed immediately. The Dodgers have dealt with enough soft-tissue injuries over the years to know that oblique strains are tricky. Pushing through one almost never ends well.

From the team’s perspective, this puts the Dodgers right back where they were before Hernández was activated. The roster flexibility they briefly gained is gone. They had already DFA’d Santiago Espinal to make room for Hernández, and now they’ll need to figure out another corresponding move — though Hernández heading back to the IL does open that spot again. The middle infield and utility picture remains unsettled, and the front office was reportedly already planning a roster move before the oblique injury changed the calculus (and that planned move is still worth tracking).

I feel for Hernández here. The guy just wants to play, and he’s been through a brutal stretch. But hiding injuries — even minor ones — from the training staff is the kind of thing that can turn a 10-day absence into a month-long one. The Dodgers need him healthy for the long haul, not for one Tuesday in May. Hopefully the oblique strain stays on the minor end of the spectrum, but we won’t know that until he’s been evaluated further and we get an updated timeline.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: May 27, 2026 2:15 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers