The Los Angeles Dodgers made a last-minute change to their starting lineup for Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, inserting banged-up shortstop Hanley Ramirez into the cleanup spot.
Hanley Ramirez back in Dodgers’ starting lineup
It looks like Don Mattingly couldn’t keep Hanley Ramirez’s bat out of the Dodgers’ lineup after all.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly previously held Ramirez out of the lineup due to the rib injury he suffered in Game 1. He hoped Ramirez would be available at some point in the game, but didn’t feel comfortable putting him in the lineup:
“We’re hoping he’ll be available to pinch hit. Obviously, we didn’t feel like he could swing right now or we’d have him in there. I told some of the radio guys before I had come in, if something would change before game time, we’d switch up. All of a sudden he’s trying to do things and he could get loose, he may be in there. But I don’t anticipate that.”
Ramirez is 2-for-12 at the plate in four NLCS games, but his bat isn’t one the Dodgers can afford to have missing from the lineup. The 29-year-old veteran hit .345/.402/.638 with 20 home runs in only 336 plate appearances during the regular season.
Joe Kelly threw the pitch that resulted in Ramirez’s fractured rib in Game 1. Ramirez stayed in the game and went 0-for-2 with three walks and the hit-by-pitch in six plate appearances during the Dodgers’ 13-inning loss.
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