Dee Gordon is on pace for 95 stolen bases - MLB

Lost in the clamor surrounding Josh Beckett’s no-hitter against the Phillies was another pair of stolen bases for Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon. Gordon, who also stole three on Friday, leads the league with 30 stolen bases and no one else is close. Billy Hamilton owns the second-highest stolen base total with 18.

Entering the season, Gordon was considered an afterthought in the Dodgers’ plans, but he has become a central part of their offensive attack. He is slashing .293/.340/.382 and the high stolen base total has been accompanied by an extremely high success rate of 91 percent.

Gordon could also be on his way to doing something that hasn’t been done in 26 years. He is presently on pace to steal 95 bases over 162 games. Should he steal that many, he would be the first player to steal 90-plus bags since Rickey Henderson stole 93 in 1988. Vince Coleman stole 109 bases the year prior.

Due to a confluence of factors — including smaller ballparks and a focus on power — stolen bases have been on the decline. In 1987, teams averaged 0.95 stolen bases per game according to Baseball Reference. It dipped as low as 0.50 in 2003. 2013 saw a 0.52 average and the current MLB average is 0.59. Only three times since the turn of the millennium has the stolen base leader swiped 70-plus bags and none more than 78. Gordon and Hamilton are what remains of a once-glorious breed of speedsters who made the lives of pitchers a personal hell.

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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”