want have (all that) attention right now.’”

Calling it “special,” that fan attention helped Hernandez to rebound in 2023 with five home runs and 30 RBIs in 54 games with the Dodgers. In 86 games with the Red Sox to start the season, he had six home runs and 31 RBIs.

But Hernandez was also playing with a nagging abdominal injury that first surfaced late in his first season in Boston. It wasn’t until this past offseason that the issue was rectified with surgery for a double hernia.

“It was just very frustrating physically and mentally to not feel right and to tell your body to do something and your body won’t do it,” Hernandez said. “Struggling on both sides of the ball was very tough on me.

“When you’re playing in pain, you’re not having that much fun. And especially when you’re in pain (and) they tell you that you’re fine that there’s nothing wrong, it makes you doubt yourself and makes you think a million things at a time.”

Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “By his own admission, he feels 100 percent right now. He hit a home run in his simulated game (Wednesday). I’m excited to get him back in the lineup (today).”

Hernandez is expected to start in center field for tonight’s home game against the Cleveland Guardians. He will be in the lineup with designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who will be playing in his second game for the Dodgers.

“I feel like everybody needs to get to witness that on a daily basis and I’m just really looking forward to the Ohtani experience,” Hernandez said.

Close call

Max Muncy said X-rays on his left hand Thursday were negative after he was hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s game against the Texas Rangers and left the contest early.

“As soon as it hit me, honestly it felt fine,” Muncy said. “They came out to check on it and once I took the batting glove off, it looked like maybe a blood vessel popped so my knuckle was about three times as big as it normally was. That’s when we were like ‘Maybe it’s not as good as we thought.’”

Muncy had a scheduled off day Thursday and hopes to return to game action tonight but he might get at least one more day of rest as a precaution.

“We kinda have almost like a curse around here,” Muncy said. “It feels like someone gets hit in the hand each spring. Whether it was me one year, (Justin Turner) one year, it’s always something going on. But thankfully it’s nothing too serious and hopefully it stays that way.”

Also

After a tidy two-inning outing on Wednesday against the Rangers, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is not expected to pitch again until next Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox. ... Despite playing in just one spring game so far, Ohtani remains on track to start the season on time March 20-21 against the San Diego Padres at South Korea. “I feel like it’s gonna be pretty easy to get to that target of 50 (at-bats),” Ohtani said Thursday through an interpreter. “Like I said earlier, I just want to keep the intensity up and make sure my body’s feeling strong.”