Going into their series with the Miami Marlins this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to be past their early-season struggles. They had won six out of their last seven games including two of three against another projected National League playoff team in the Washington Nationals.
The Dodgers beat the Marlins 2-1 in the series opener, but it was all Miami from there. They came from behind to beat the Dodgers 3-2 on Tuesday and then dropped ace Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday to earn their first series victory of the season.
Wednesday’s loss was one of the Dodgers’ worst this season. Kershaw tied a career high in walks with six, the Dodgers made three errors on defense, and the offense only scored one run in the first seven innings of the game.
That led to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts readily admitting his team was outplayed by the 7-17 Marlins, via SportsNet LA:
“I think any time you lose it’s frustrating. But you got to give the Marlins credit, they outpitched us, they outhit us and they won a series. We’ve got a long road ahead of us and regardless of where we play, who we play, we just got to play complete baseball.”
The loss dropped the Dodgers back below .500 at 11-12 going into a four-game series against the division rival San Francisco Giants this weekend. It marks the start of a season-long 11-game road trip.
While Kershaw and the defense both struggling is concerning, the biggest concern for Roberts has to be the performance of his offense. It only produced nine runs in a three-game series against one of the worst pitching staffs in the league.
Matt Kemp and Yasmani Grandal homered in the eighth and ninth inning, respectively, which is a positive. Those two have carried the Dodgers offense for much of the season though, leaving the likes of Corey Seager, Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig who need to get going.
