Dodgers have microcosm game to describe lengthy struggles
by Cary Osborne
Ever since the Dodgers became the first National League team to win 10 games this season, they’ve stalled.
And now they’ve reached double digits in losses after a 9–4 loss to the New York Mets in the series opener at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
Since beating the Twins 6–3 on April 9, the Dodgers have gone 2–6.
The powerful offense hasn’t clicked. The starting pitching hasn’t gone on a run. The bullpen hasn’t found its footing.
Manager Dave Roberts called Friday night’s game the microcosm of it.
“It’s hard to pick one thing because I think if each game you look at, it could be the starting pitcher, it could be the pen, it could be offensively we’re not putting up enough runs,” Roberts said of the team’s lengthy struggles. “So I think that it’s collectively. Tonight it was kind of a microcosm of what we’ve been through is all facets we could have done better.”
Dodger starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto piled up swing-and-miss and called strikes, but the Mets were on his four-seam fastball and built a 4–0 lead through three innings. An error on catcher Will Smith in the second inning was cashed in when center fielder Harrison Bader collected a two-strike RBI single.
Yamamoto ended up going six innings, having allowed seven hits, one walk, a home run, four runs (three earned) and striking out an early Major League career-best nine batters.
Dodger starting pitching has a 4.89 ERA during this 2–6 stretch.
The Dodger bullpen allowed five runs (four earned) on Friday.
The Dodger offense continues to struggle with runners in scoring position. It went 3-for-12 on Friday and is now 14-for-72 (.194) with runners in scoring position over the last eight games. More troubling is there have been just three extra-base hits in those chances.
The Dodgers have one extra-base hit with a runner in scoring position in their last six games — a Mookie Betts double in the second inning on Tuesday.
“We’re just not getting the hit right now,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman. “It’s April. We’ll go through the ups and downs. Just got to play better baseball.”
Freeman went 0-for-5 and is 4-for-30 during this eight-game rough patch.
Freeman said he’s trying to work through some mechanical issues with his hips that have limited his ability to get on a fastball and keep his bat in the hitting zone.
“Luckily I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been through stuff like this before,” Freeman said. “2021 was a lot worse than this when I started out. … All you can do is just come in the next day and work.”
Chris Taylor has been in a deeper slump but had a few positives on Friday — two hard-hit balls including a two-run single in the sixth inning that broke a 0-for-31 slump.
“It just felt good to do something to help the team, honestly,” Taylor said. “It’s no secret I’ve been grinding a little bit. I’m just trying to keep things as simple as I possibly can, like look for something in the middle of the plate. I was just able to come through finally.”
