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Teoscar Hernández was removed from Wednesday night’s game during the third inning with a left hamstring strain, per Dodger Blue staff. Hyeseong Kim entered the game to replace him in left field. This is a separate injury from the left oblique tear that recently kept Hernández sidelined — and the timing couldn’t be worse.

Hernández has had a rough stretch health-wise. He just returned from an emotional absence tied to his oblique injury, only to have that oblique issue land him on the injured list with what MRI results revealed was a significant tear projected to cost him six to eight weeks. Now, a left hamstring strain adds another layer of concern. Hernández came into this season as one of the Dodgers’ most important bats after re-signing with the club following his strong 2024 campaign, where he posted 33 home runs and an .840 OPS while helping Los Angeles win the World Series. He’s been a middle-of-the-order anchor, and losing him for any extended stretch — let alone to multiple injuries — takes real thunder out of this lineup.

The fact that Hernández was even in the game Wednesday raises some questions about where things stood with his oblique recovery, and now a hamstring issue compounds the situation. Hamstring strains vary wildly in severity — a mild Grade 1 strain might mean a couple of weeks, while anything more significant could extend the absence well beyond that. We’ll need to wait for imaging and an official update from the club to know what we’re dealing with here.

Kim stepping into left field is a reflection of how thin things are getting. He’s been a versatile presence since arriving from the KBO, capable of handling multiple positions, but asking him to cover for Hernández’s offensive production is a tall order. The Dodgers signed Kim expecting a solid contact bat with defensive flexibility — not necessarily someone who would be asked to fill a cleanup-caliber hole in the lineup.

I’ll be blunt: this is getting ugly on the injury front. We already had Max Muncy out, the pitching staff dealing with its own casualties, and now Hernández is dealing with two separate injuries in the span of a few weeks. The position player depth that looked like a luxury in March is becoming a necessity in late May. If this hamstring strain is anything more than minor, the front office is going to have to get creative — whether that means accelerating Tommy Edman‘s rehab timeline, calling up a prospect, or looking outside the organization entirely. The Dodgers have the roster infrastructure to absorb a hit or two, but the hits keep coming, and we’re not even at June yet.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: May 28, 2026 2:58 AM UTC

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