Dodgers injury update: Blake Treinen on the way to rehab assignment, Jason Heyward

After nine games at home and three series lost, the Dodgers had to pick up their pride and hit the road for three more series against the Nationals, Blue Jays, and Diamondbacks. On Tuesday night, their first game in Washington against a Nats team they'd dropped two games to just the week before featured the bottom of the lineup coming to life and a mammoth home run from Shohei Ohtani to seal the deal. In 4 2/3 innings, James Paxton gave up five hits but only one run, and the bullpen managed to hold things down and secure the win.

The Dodgers looked a bit more like a complete team on Tuesday night than they have in their last nine games, but two key pieces of the most major areas of concern, the bullpen and the bottom of the lineup, are still confined to the LA Injured List.

Dave Roberts provided injury updates on Blake Treinen and Jason Heyward, and while Treinen's news makes it sound like he's trending in the right direction, Heyward unfortunately seems not to be making much progress at all.

Dodgers injury news: Blake Treinen is on the right track to return; Jason Heyward is delayed

Treinen has been out since spring training, when he took a comebacker to the ribs and was diagnosed with a rib/lung contusion. His return has swerved a few times; he accompanied the Dodgers to Korea for the Seoul Series, which led to some hopes that his injury wasn't as serious as originally thought. However, he didn't pitch there and has progressed slowly toward a return. Roberts said he would "need three of four outings" in the minors before making a full return, but that he would be starting that process this week.

Heyward only appeared in four games, two stateside, before he was benched and moved to the IL with lower back tightness on April 3. His absence set off a chain of events for the Dodgers that has only really started to stabilize a few weeks later: Chris Taylor became a regular in the outfield but couldn't (and still can't) hit; Taylor Trammell, who had been acquired to occupy the bench spot Taylor left open the day before Heyward's official move to the IL, also couldn't hit; then Andy Pages was called up, Trammell was DFA'ed, and Taylor was benched.

Pages has been doing pretty well in Heyward's absence, but the scramble to find a suitable replacement was far from ideal. It seems that we're still some weeks away from seeing him return anyway; he's evidently on full rest-mode and won't start a rehab assignment for "more than a week."