The Los Angeles Dodgers are on their first losing streak of the season as they failed to complete a sweep of the San Diego Padres and followed that with a bit of a flat performance against the Seattle Mariners.
With plenty of concern on the status of Mookie Betts after he was hit by a pitch in the right forearm, it’s also worth noting the Dodgers have committed at least one error in the past four games. That stretch began with three errors in an extra-innings win over the Padres last week.
Corey Seager’s throwing error in the eighth inning on Sunday led to San Diego taking a lead, and Chris Taylor booting a routine chopper allowed Seattle to extend their advantage in the fourth inning after the Dodgers pulled to within a run.
Despite the stretch of sloppy play, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts voiced confidence in his team’s fielding ability. “I just think we’re a really good defensive team,” he said after the 4-3 loss at T-Mobile Park.
“I think the ball took a hop on C.T., but we’ve still got to make pitches. That’s the bottom line. I’ll take our defense against anybody.”
Of course, Roberts doesn’t need to look far for an example of how capable the Dodgers are in field. Betts sealed a series win over the Padres with a tremendous diving catch in the right-center field gap, making a play that was only given a 10% catch probability.
Taylor’s error certainly loomed large as it resulted in Taylor Trammell pulling an RBI double down the line, but the Dodgers finished with just five hits and have 11 in their past three games. L.A. additionally went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Monday’s loss.
“I think [Sunday] was certainly a different game than today. Two different pitchers,” Roberts explained. “Snell and their bullpen, and today we just couldn’t put a bunch of hits together. Again, we had a chance to win. You’re going to have games like that.”
Dodgers defense middle of the road
Even with the flurry of miscues over the past few days, the Dodgers still rank 11th in baseball with 11 errors on the season. Though, their .982 team fielding percentage is only good for 17th-best, and their -2.4 defensive rating is 21st.
Granted, that’s an improvement on the -7.4 defensive rating the Dodgers posted last season.
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