The Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday afternoon placed third baseman Justin Turner on the 10-day disabled list with a right hamstring strain and recalled outfielder Brett Eibner from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Eibner, 28, will make his fourth stint with the big league club this season and has gone 3-for-10 with one homer and two RBI with the big league squad. In 21 games with the OKC Dodgers, Eibner has hit .258, going 17-for-66 with 11 runs, two doubles, a triple, three home runs and 10 RBI. The San Diego native, who was acquired by the Dodgers on January 25 from the Oakland Athletics, saw his first big-league action in 2016 with Kansas City and Oakland, combining to hit .193, going 36-for-187 with six homers and 22 RBI.
Turner, who recorded his fifth consecutive multi-hit game last night after going 2-for-3 with a run, a walk and a stolen base, left the game with a right hamstring strain while rounding third base in the bottom of the seventh inning. In 39 games with Los Angeles this season, Turner is batting .379 with 18 runs, 13 doubles, one home run and 17 RBI. He currently leads the major leagues in batting average, while ranking among the NL leaders with 53 hits, 13 doubles, a .453 on-base percentage, in addition to being hit by a pitch seven times.
According to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, an extended DL stay would force the Dodgers to get creative. Of the five games Turner didn’t start this year, Enrique Hernandez (two games), Logan Forsythe (two) and Chris Taylor (one) have split the time at third base.
As far as Friday evening’s contest against the Marlins goes, Taylor is leading off and playing third base, while Hernandez once again bats cleanup at the hot corner against Florida southpaw Justin Nicolino.
Dodgers lineup vs. Marlins (5/19): Taylor 2B, Seager SS, Gutierrez LF, Hernandez 3B, Barnes C, Puig RF, Bellinger 1B, Eibner CF and Wood.
Forsythe is leading off and playing third base on Friday night in his third rehab start for High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
(Dai Sugiura provided some of the information furnished in this report)