LOS ANGELES >> A bad back has kept the amount of entries Adrian Gonzalez has written into this storybook Dodgers season. And now that he’s due to return soon, just how often will the veteran slugger be allowed to pen?
The Dodgers have not had to pine for Gonzalez’s return as the emergence of rookie star and would-be most valuable player candidate Cody Bellinger has effectively reduced Gonzalez to part-time status, which is exactly what the 35-year-old will be when he comes back.
Gonzalez went hitless in his first four at-bats while playing in his sixth rehabilitation game for the Dodgers’ Class-A affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday but remains on a path to meet up with the Dodgers on a trip that begins in Detroit on Friday and continues on to Pittsburgh, Manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s game against San Diego.