CINCINNATI — For most of the past month, Chris Taylor couldn’t get a start. Then he got two.
Taylor started in left field Friday, only his fourth start this month. He went 1 for 4 with a double and was back in the lineup Saturday, starting in center field for the first time this season.
It was the first time Taylor – mired in a deep slump all season – started in consecutive games since April 15-16.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was not planned ahead of time but was a reaction to progress he saw in Taylor’s at-bats recently and a deepening slump for rookie Andy Pages, who had started eight of the previous nine games in center field with James Outman demoted to Triple-A.
After batting .338 (22 for 65) in his first 16 games after being called up from Triple-A, Pages has just nine hits in his past 65 at-bats (.139) with 26 strikeouts.
“It was both,” Roberts said of the impetus behind the lineup decision. “It was more of just kind of seeing how Andy’s been, for me, scuffling and a lot more chasing. I still understand that he hit a hanging breaking ball off Hunter Greene (for a home run last week). I understand that. But for tonight’s game, I still think it’s best for him to sit and watch and get Chris in there.”
Taylor still took a miserable .106 (7 for 66) average into Saturday’s game with 30 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances. But Roberts said he has seen progress in Taylor’s recent at-bats. Taylor was 3 for his past 10 with hits in each of his two starts before Saturday.
Roberts said he spoke with Taylor during the Dodgers’ recent series in San Francisco about the “frustrating” time Taylor is going through.
“He clearly understands his performance, how guys are playing. But certainly he wants an opportunity to play and I understand that, I respect that,” Roberts said. “I just asked him to continue to stay ready when called upon and that’s what he’s doing.
“It can be tough and when you’re trying to compete at this level and feel like you’re not pulling your weight, it gets frustrating. But like I said, the guy puts in the work every single day. It’s not lost on me. Not at all.”
With severe weather forecast for the Cincinnati area Sunday, the Reds made the decision Saturday to move game time for the series finale up 90 minutes – from 1:40 p.m. local time to 12:10 p.m.
Roberts said the weather forecast will not change the Dodgers’ pitching plans. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still scheduled to start.
“I think it’s a great decision to move it up. Yamamoto is still going to start. He’s already been told,” Roberts said.
“I think that because we moved it up an hour and a half we should be out of harm’s way … and be done with the game by the time the weather hits.”
Coming into the series, the Reds were expected to start left-hander Andrew Abbott in Sunday’s game. They have switched to a “bullpen game.”
Shohei Ohtani’s bunt single in Monday’s game against the Diamondbacks has been changed to a throwing error on Diamondbacks pitcher Joe Mantiply.
Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 5-1, 3.17 ERA) at Reds (TBA), 9:10 a.m. PT Sunday, SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM
