Prior to returning home for a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Dodgers enjoyed a successful showing against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
The club took two of three, successfully winning their first series in the month of August. The matchup was capped off with a dominating 12-1 victory in Sunday’s finale, in which Clayton Kershaw recorded the 150th win of his illustrious career, becoming only the seventh pitcher in franchise history to reach that mark.
However, it’s been downhill from there. The Dodgers were swept by the Cardinals, resulting in eight losses in their last 11 games.
While Los Angeles’ two more recent wins were in blowout affairs, Justin Turner said the club must find a way to emerge victorious in close games, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Now we’ve got to figure out ways to be on the right end of the one-run games. Winning the close games is something we have to do a better job of.”
In one-run contests this season, the club has posted an underwhelming 17-21 record with a run differential of -4. They’re just 2-7 in such games during the month of August.
That’s a stark contrast when compared to last season’s team that reached the World Series, as the 2017 Dodgers posted a solid 25-19 record in one-run games, good for a .568 winning percentage.
On the flip side, Los Angeles hasn’t struggled in coming out on the winning side in blowouts (victories of five or more runs), as they’re 23-8 in those contests while outscoring the opposition by 118 runs.
