Dodgers’ Chris Taylor was ‘grinding’ with his swing even before neck injury

CINCINNATI — First came the slump. Then came the neck injury.

“I don’t think so,” Chris Taylor said when asked if trying to play through stiffness in his neck had led to the downturn in his offensive production over the past month or so. “I’ve just been kind of grinding with my mechanics. I’ve been having trouble finding a consistent feel that’s repeatable each and every day. It feels like every day … was just kind of searching for something new. Every day felt a little different.

“Before that, I could think the same things and it was repeatable and consistent. But for whatever reason, I just sort of fell out of that. That makes it tough when you’re constantly searching.”

The neck pain started as a pinched-nerve feeling on the right side of Taylor’s neck, making it difficult for him to turn in that direction. Then he dove for a ball during the Dodgers’ series against the San Diego Padres and “it locked up on me pretty good.” Taylor hasn’t played since, missing six games through Friday. He did take batting practice with the team before Friday’s game and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he expects Taylor to be in the lineup on Saturday.

Maybe Taylor will have found what he’s been searching for by then.

An unexpected All-Star for the first time in his career, Taylor came out of the break with 20 hits in his first 65 at-bats (.308), including six home runs. Since the start of August, though, Taylor has been a .187 hitter (23 for 123), piling up strikeouts (49).

“I’m just trying to find different cues where before it was kind of the same cues every day which made it easy,” said Taylor who flew out as a pinch-hitter Friday night, his first action in a week. “I could think the same couple things and it got me in the right spot. But for whatever reason in a long season, things change a little bit. Your body gets tired or whatever and the cues that were working for me before aren’t working for me now.”

With injuries to Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock in the outfield and Corey Seager on the infield, the Dodgers have leaned heavily on Taylor for much of the season. But he doesn’t think that’s the reason for his second-half decline.

“No … The best I’ve been was just out of the All-Star break, the start of the second half,” he said. “It’s really just been the last month or so, August and the first week of September. Before that, I felt really good. I don’t think it was anything with playing time. It was just mechanical with my swing.

“I like playing every day. I don’t think it had anything to do with that. Like I said, I was just working through some stuff with my swing.”

Taylor’s value to the Dodgers has never been higher than this season. Injuries and the departures of fellow role players Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernandez last winter thrust Taylor to the forefront – just as Taylor is about to get his turn at free agency.

“No, I don’t think about that. My motivation is always on the field,” Taylor said.

Both Pederson and Hernandez had outgrown their roles in Los Angeles and left for the opportunity to play more (and get paid for it). Taylor, however, shows no signs of chafing in his role.

“I’ve been playing a lot so I don’t think I’d necessarily play more somewhere else,” he said. “Maybe my role would be a little different. I like my role here. I like playing for a team that’s in contention every year. I’m comfortable in L.A. I love L.A. I love everything about playing for the Dodgers.”

PIGGYBACK RIDE

With off days wrapped around both ends of this series in Cincinnati, the Dodgers will skip Tony Gonsolin in the rotation this time around. Instead, he will be available to follow Clayton Kershaw and pitch in Sunday’s game instead.

This sets Julio Urias to start Tuesday in Colorado on five days of rest followed by Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer, each on four days of rest. Gonsolin and Kershaw would pitch in next weekend’s series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

LUX INJURY

Gavin Lux was scratched from Friday night’s starting lineup after he was hit in the right forearm by a pitch from the pitching machine in the batting cage.

“I guess a ball got away and got him pretty good in the forearm,” Roberts said, adding that X-rays taken during the game were negative.

Roberts said Lux would likely be out of the lineup for the remainder of the Reds series though he might be available off the bench.

Since being recalled from Triple-A, Lux had started six games in left field and gone 7 for 17 (.412).

ALSO

Pollock will move his rehab to Arizona on Monday, according to Roberts, where he will play in simulated games. Pollock could return from his hamstring injury during the Dodgers’ series in Arizona next weekend.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Max Scherzer, 14-4, 2.17 ERA) at Reds (RHP Sonny Gray, 7-7, 3.80 ERA), Saturday, 11:10 a.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM