The Los Angeles Dodgers faced questions in their bullpen even with Kenley Jansen in the fold. In fact, he was the source of some uncertainty in the early going of the 2018 season.
But as Jansen rounded into his All-Star form, the Dodgers at times still found trouble in getting him the ball. Now the bullpen is facing a reality of potentially not having their anchor until September.
They managed to secure a win in the series opener against the Colorado Rockies, but then were a factor in three consecutive losses at Coors Field; two of which were walk-offs.
While the inclination may be to put blame on a shaky bullpen, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put responsibility on the offense do their share in aiding the group, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Like I’ve said, guys are going to have opportunities to put up zeroes,” Roberts said of the bullpen. “But the bigger thing I think is we’ve got to score runs too. When you’re putting guys in tough spots and tight situations where every game is close and you can’t get any breathing room, it makes it tough on everyone.”
The Dodgers went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. They mustered just one run off Chad Bettis, who was coming off a start in which he allowed nine runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Los Angeles scored a combined 17 runs during the four-game set, but nearly half (eight) came in the series opener that had they not tied a National League record with five home runs from the seventh inning on, may have very well resulted in the Rockies completing a sweep.
The Dodgers went 5-for-24 with runners in scoring position in their three losses to Colorado. Situational hitting has been a trouble spot of late, particularly with Matt Kemp mired in a slump.
Although moving Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling to the bullpen may help rectify some of their woes, the Dodgers don’t have such a readymade option with their offense. Instead hoping confidence in their group will pay off as players resume producing at expected levels.
