Lux's 'long recovery road' leads to first HR since '22

LOS ANGELES -- On Monday, the Dodgers got a chance to watch Walker Buehler make his return to the mound after missing nearly two years due to injury. For the Dodgers to be at their best, they’ll need Buehler moving forward.

On Tuesday, while not nearly the same level of return, the Dodgers also got treated to something else they haven’t seen in nearly two years, this time on the offensive side of the ball.

In the third inning of the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the Marlins on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, Gavin Lux jumped on an Edward Cabrera slider and sent it over the right-field wall, his first homer of the season and first since Aug. 15, 2022. Lux missed the entire ‘23 season with a torn ACL and LCL.

“It felt good,” Lux said. “It was a long recovery road the last year, and then you get off to a slow start. Nobody wants to do that. It felt really good overall, and it’s kinda funny that in that situation, I’m just trying to hit a fly ball to center field, and you just get a pitch you can handle and you do that. Sometimes, less is more.”

Lux isn’t necessarily a power hitter. The Dodgers don’t need him to be. But like Buehler, for the Dodgers to be at their very best, they need Lux to continue to feel more comfortable at the plate as he continues to ease his way into the grind of a big league season. Over the last week, the Dodgers are starting to see signs of that, as the second baseman is 8-for-28 in his last eight games.

“I think Gavin’s been taking much better swings,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “That was a slider, a pitch that all year he’s been out in front of and hitting it to the second baseman. … I think across the board, the last handful of games, he’s taken much better at-bats. Things are starting to turn for him.”

On Friday against the Braves, Lux hit a line drive to left field for a base hit. That’s the type of swing he has been searching for all season long, one he relied upon heavily during a successful 2022 season. The following night, Lux drove one the other way again, this time in the air, but it was caught by Michael Harris II on the warning track.

Then there was his swing on Tuesday against Cabrera, who has struggled with his command since becoming a regular starter in the Majors, but has also shown the ability to rack up strikeouts. For Lux, however, it doesn’t matter who is pitching. He just wants to pile up as many barrelled balls as he can and live with the results. Little by little, he appears to be on his way.

Outside of Lux, the Dodgers had contributions from all over the lineup. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened the scoring with a first-pitch homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers came right back for a second straight night with a crooked number. This time, it was Max Muncy hitting his sixth grand slam as a Dodger, the sixth most in franchise history.

The Dodgers did all their damage without needing much from the top of the order, as Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith all went hitless. That didn’t seem to matter, as the Dodgers still put up eight runs on the board through three innings.

A few weeks ago, when the Dodgers were scuffling in the midst of an uncharacteristically sloppy homestand, having just one hit between Betts, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Smith would have almost certainly resulted in a loss.

At that point in the season, the bottom of the Dodgers’ order wasn’t producing. There was some real concern. Outside of the top guys, do the Dodgers have enough in their batting order?

After winning 13 of their last 15 games, there’s no longer any questions surrounding this offense. They lead the Majors with 211 runs. And if they get guys like Lux going, there’s even more left in the tank. That’s a scary thought for the rest of the league.

“I think one through nine, no matter who is playing, we’re going to give you a good at-bat,” Lux said. “We’re not going to give at-bats away, and if you’re not throwing strikes, we’re not going to chase.”