During Friday night’s game against the San Diego Padres, we learned two new things about Dodgers super-sub Kikè Hernandez – 1) According to Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, Kikè is actually the Dodgers emergency back-up catcher, not utility outfielder/first baseman Scott Van Slyke; and 2) He has some serious mojo – banana mojo to be exact.

Heading into the bottom of fifth inning of Friday night’s contest against the division-rival Padres, the Dodgers were on the cusp of setting a new Los Angeles Dodgers record for the most consecutive innings played without scoring a run. They had tied the existing record of 35 scoreless inning set by the 1962 Dodgers – a record that effectively took them out of the ’62 World Series – in the bottom of the fourth and it appeared that Padres starting pitcher Andrew Cashner who, to that point, had held the Dodgers to no runs and only two hits, was about to send the Dodgers into the annals of dubious Dodgers history.

But then something unusual happened. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner hit a lead-off single to Padres center fielder Will Venable who booted the ball (literally) allowing Turner to take second on the error. At this point the SportsNet LA cameras zoomed into the Dodgers dugout and happened to catch the extremely likable Kikè Hernandez holding a banana as if it were an old sci-fi movie ray gun.

Never underestimate the power of the “Rally Banana.”
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA).

Apparently the quick-witted Hernandez knew something that the rest of us did not – that his banana was actually a “Rally Banana” – because the next Dodgers batter, Andre Ethier, hit Cashner’s 87-MPH change-up into right field for a double, scoring Turner from second base to bring an end to the Dodgers painful scoreless innings streak.

According to a post on Instagram by Hernandez himself, he and his Rally Banana are also responsible for Joc Pederson’s game-winning monster solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Long Live the Rally Banana!

As they always say – “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”