Dodgers Kyle Tucker responds to boos in Wrigley Field return: Tried my hardest last year

CHICAGO –– The first time Kyle Tucker was booed at one of his former home ballparks this year, he shrugged it off.When it happened again on Monday night, he seemed decidedly less amused.In his first trip back to Wrigley Field since leaving the Cubs for the Dodgers in free agency this winter, Tucker received a reception that belied that ballpark’s “Friendly Confines” nickname.He was voraciously booed before his first at-bat.Then again and again with each subsequent trip to the plate.“I don’t know,” he said when asked of the hostilities afterward.

“I tried my hardest last year.I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back for the playoffs for them, trying to do what I could to help out the team.”Evidently, that didn’t sway a nearly 40,000-person crowd on the North Side to welcome him with a warm greeting.Tucker’s lone season with the Cubs didn’t go according to plan, of course.

After an All-Star first half, the slugger slumped down the stretch while battling his hand and calf injuries.Though the team still made the playoffs, and prevailed in a three-game series against the Padres in the wild-card round, their NLDS elimination to the rival Brewers ultimately qualified as a disappointment.Tucker’s 4-for-16, one-RBI performance in that series also left a disappointing impression –– at least, it seemed, among the fan base –– before he entered free agency and signed his $240 million deal with the Dodgers this past January.“I mean, I liked playing here last year,” Tucker said.“There were some really great guys over there and they have a good team.”“Didn’t end up great at the end of the year,” he added of his up-and-down campaign.

“But I had a good run.”Monday’s scene was not exactly new for Tucker.During a May trip back to Houston to face the Astros –– the team with which he spent his first seven MLB seasons before being traded to the Cubs last year –– the outfielder was als...