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How Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker feels about move to cleanup spot in lineup
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- How Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker feels about move to cleanup spot in lineup
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The Los Angeles Dodgers had gone off to their best start in nearly 50 years, but they did drop two games to the Colorado Rockies in recent days and fell short of their very lofty standards, with that continuing in a 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday in their series opener. On Thursday, the Dodgers decided to shuffle around their lineup — with Kyle Tucker dropping down to the cleanup spot.
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Tucker had usually batted second for the Dodgers to start the 2026 season, but on Thursday, manager Dave Roberts decided to move Freddie Freeman up to that spot and have Teoscar Hernandez batting third. This shuffle was made in part because Will Smith , the team’s typical three-hole hitter, got the day off and it did not make sense to have three consecutive lefty batters in the lineup.
The Dodgers’ big offseason acquisition did his part, going 2-4 from the plate in the Dodgers’ bounce-back 3-0 win on Thursday thanks to a dominant performance from Tyler Glasnow . And to Tucker’s credit, he does not mind where he is in the lineup, so long as the team keeps on winning.
“I think it’s fine, wherever I am in the lineup. Trying to help this team win, I’ll do it,” Tucker told Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA. “Hopefully we can get some wins out of that and continue playing good ball.”
It’s not like Tucker received a huge demotion, the Dodgers are simply tinkering with how to optimize their stacked lineup. Hitting second and fourth come with different responsibilities, however, as batting cleanup comes with more opportunities to drive in runs, and Tucker has shown in the past that he can do just that.
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It will be interesting to see if the Dodgers will be making this a long-term change or if this was simply a one-off.
Related: Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow explains how he dominated Giants on Thursday
Related: Dodgers’ Dave Roberts shares eye-opening reaction to Logan Webb’s Dalton Rushing HBP
