Dodgers Kyle Tucker still trying to find who he is offensively

Kyle Tucker said he wasn’t looking for anything specific Saturday afternoon.Just better feel for a swing that has plagued him all season.In what manager Dave Roberts described as a “very telling” move from the team’s $240 million offseason signing, Tucker went out on the field twice ahead of Saturday’s game for some rare open-air batting practice.There was one session off a velocity machine hours before the game.Then, another during traditional pregame batting practice — his first time participating in that all season.Typically, Tucker does all his swing work out of sight in the team’s clubhouse batting cages.Then again, typically, the four-time All-Star isn’t struggling the way he has lately.“He’s working hard,” Roberts said, “to try to work through it.”The good news for Tucker: A day after his batting practice sessions, he seemed to finally find something in the Dodgers’ rubber-match win Sunday over the Phillies, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a couple well-struck balls.He laced a 100 mph line drive in the first inning that was unlucky to find the glove of Justin Crawford in center.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story He chopped a 92 mph one-hopper in the third that was very lucky to kick off the bag at first for an RBI single.Then, on his fourth-hardest-hit ball of the season in the fifth inning, he smoked a rocket of a double off the wall in deep right.“Today,” Roberts said, “looked [like] more of who he is.”The problem for Tucker, at least to this point of his debut Dodgers campaign, is that he has not been able to translate breakout days such as Sunday’s into more prolonged hot streaks.The nine-year veteran is still hitting just .242 on the season, on pace for a career-low mark.

He has just four home runs a...