Trevor Bauer, facing an allegation of sexual assault and strangulation by a woman, is in line to start Sunday for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Washington Nationals, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Thursday.
Roberts said “it’s out of our hands” on what to do with Bauer while Major League Baseball investigates the allegation.
“I’m in the position of following the lead of Major League Baseball,” Roberts said. “Their recommendation was for us to – he was our scheduled Sunday starter, and to move forward and have him start that game on Sunday. And so for me to try to read into it anymore outside of just following what they had advised me and us to do, I just choose to follow kind of their lead.”
According to a Los Angeles Times reporter, Bauer declined comment prior to Thursday night’s game against the Nationals.
ESPN reported that the woman is accusing Bauer of choking her until she lost consciousness and punching her in the face during sex. She was granted a temporary restraining order against Bauer, filed on Monday.
She quoted Bauer as telling her, “You have a couple welts. I need to be more careful where I hit you. I also punched your butt while you were unconscious so you may have a bruise there.”
Bauer, through his attorney, has denied the allegations and said he and the woman only engaged in consensual sex. He is scheduled to attend a hearing July 23.