He has been the Dodgers’ least-productive, most-disappointing and highest-scrutinized player all season long.

He has previously been booed both at home and on the road.

He has been criticized, chastised and critiqued endlessly, especially during a career-worst hitless streak recently.

But on Friday night, amid what has been the lowest stretch of his dismal debut season with the Dodgers, Kyle Tucker came to the plate in the bottom of the second inning and received the kind of reaction that has evaded him for most of the year.

In a pre-planned reception that gained traction on social media the day before, and garnered participation from much of the Chavez Ravine crowd, Dodgers fans offered a prolonged ovation to their $240 million outfielder –– giving him a coordinated show of support they hoped would help Tucker turn his campaign around.

“It’s been a struggle, in the sense that I’d like to help our team win and perform better for the guys in the clubhouse and the fans that come to the games,” Tucker said pregame, before grounding out in his sentimental at-bat.

“In that aspect, I wish I would’ve done better this year. But like I said, we’ve still got a month and a half left and the playoffs coming up, so it’s not over yet. Just gotta keep grinding every single day and just keep moving forward and just try to get better every single day.”

Indeed, for Tucker, the Dodgers and their fans, there was hope that Friday could represent the turning of a page.

During last week’s homestand, Tucker’s already frustrating year reached a new nadir, when he went 0-for-19 to continue his season-long struggles with hitting at Dodger Stadium specifically. 

Then, things somehow got even worse Monday night in Denver, when Tucker went 0-for-5, dropped a fly ball in right field, and looked despondent on the bench while the team’s television broadcast debated whether he needed some sort of mental “reset.”

In the days since, however, Dodgers coaches and players had gone out of their way to publicly back the offseason signing, who did get three total hits on Tuesday and Wednesday to raise his batting average to .232 and OPS to .694.

Manager Dave Roberts, in particular, has voiced confidence in the four-time All-Star, reiterating Friday his goal of making sure Tucker knows “he’s not on an island” and his plan to keep playing the 29-year-old on an everyday basis.

“We’re here to support him; I’m here to support him,” Roberts said, before making a declaration:  “I really feel we’ve turned a corner, I really do. I can’t speak to what he’s going to do tonight at the plate, but mentally and emotionally I think that he’s freed up. Don’t know what that looks like, but I’m encouraged.”

Tucker did make one change Friday by deciding to hit on the field during pregame batting practice, something he has done only a few times previously this year in lieu of cagework back in the clubhouse.

“I haven’t been hitting great this year, so I figured I’d try something else,” he quipped. “Hopefully it helps.” 

In the wake of the second inning ovation from the crowd –– which was similar to a reception then-slumping shortstop Mookie Betts received last season –– Dodgers fans will be hoping for the same, going to their own dramatic lengths in an effort to help Tucker rebound from what has been a nightmarish season to this point.

“I’m all right. I’m all good,” Tucker said. “Everyone here is super supportive of everything and everyone. So, regardless of how I feel or whatever, I’ve got to go out and play and perform regardless. So, just going to try and do that every single day.”

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