Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Update on Austin Barnes Right Hand Injury That Forced Him Out of Thursday’s Game

The Dodgers were dominant at long last on Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati, riding a pair of 3-run innings and a shutdown performance on the mound from Clayton Kershaw to a 6-0 win on getaway day.

Next on the slate is a trip to the City of Brotherly Love to play three against the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend, with Julio Urias slated to return to the rotation following a stint on the injured list.



But with one ailing Dodger set to head back to the mound, there’s fresh concern over one of his teammates in catcher Austin Barnes, who left the series finale in the 9th inning after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand.

There’s conflicting sentiments within the team, as Barnes didn’t seem overly concerned with the long term impact of the hit — the pain notwithstanding — he told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame.

“Yeah, that didn’t feel too good. Yeah, but it seems like it’s alright, you know, first test, it seemed like there’s no broken bones or anything. I guess it hit me in kinda like on the meatier part, so that’s good. It hurt though. It didn’t feel good.”

Manager Dave Roberts had more worries than Barnes though, hinting at the possibility of a potential roster move after the series concluded.

“It didn’t look good, didn’t sound good from his reaction. We’re hoping, but hopefully the x-ray is negative, but just from the looks of it, it didn’t sound good.”

As for who would potentially be the guy to replace Barnes:

“I don’t think it’ll be Diego (Cartaya),” Roberts said. “Diego’s more of a longer-term play. So obviously we have a couple guys in Triple-A that are not on the roster right now, so we’d have to make a 40-man move.”

Dave Roberts on SportsNet LA

That means it would likely be Hunter Feduccia or Patrick Mazeika.

The fact that the x-ray wound up being negative, as confirmed by Barnes, should be welcome news for Roberts, as Kershaw’s longtime personal backstop may have escaped having to make a trip to the injured list.

As for the Dodger pitcher, Kershaw explained that the fact that Barnes came out of the game showed just how hard of a hit his catcher took.

“Barnesy is about as tough as they come. For him to even stop the game or come out of the game, that one got him pretty good.”

Clayton Kershaw to SportsNet LA

Time will tell whether Barnes has to ultimately go on the IL, but the injury in the Dodgers’ final three outs is something the team certainly didn’t need.

For Los Angeles, here’s hoping that Barnes’ hand stays 100 percent going forward.

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Matt Wagner

Matt Wagner was born and raised in southern California, and he lived there before moving to Colorado and getting his B.A. in Communications from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2022. He relocated back to southern California in 2023 and is looking forward to covering the Dodgers again here at Dodgers Nation. Some of his past work is in Bleacher Report, Dodgers Tailgate, and, most recently, Colorado Buffaloes Wire. Aside from writing, you can probably catch him petting the nearest dog or eating some good Mexican food.

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