The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup again produced another relatively quiet performance in a loss to the Chicago Cubs, which saw Andre Jackson entrusted with a high-leverage situation that led to the game slipping away.
Noah Syndergaard battled his way through six innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits while striking out nine. He turned the ball over to the Dodgers bullpen with Cubs ahead 3-1. Brusdar Graterol tossed a scoreless seventh inning, and after Max Muncy homered to bring the Dodgers within a run, manager Dave Roberts called upon Jackson.
Jackson surrendered three solo home runs in the eighth inning, including back-to-back shots to open the frame. He allowed two more runs in the ninth inning, essentially putting the game out of reach.
“I just felt he’s a neutral guy, and down a run, I didn’t want to use Caleb (Ferguson),” Roberts explained of his decision to call on Jackson in the eighth inning.
“Given we’ve got a lot of games in a row, and a game we had three hits up to that point. You start running leverage guys out there to come up short, that’s not what you want to do. Andre has thrown the baseball well for us. He just didn’t make good pitches.
“You’re down, and how much do you want to go to the well when you play 10 in a row, 11 in a row, whatever. To potentially have to use [Ferguson] tomorrow. Again, it’s one of those things where offensively, we didn’t do a whole lot for seven innings. So that’s a decision I made.”
Aside from solo homers hit by Chris Taylor and Muncy, the Dodgers didn’t have one runner reach second base. The boom-or-bust results reared its ugly head and forced Roberts into a tough spot, and Jackson’s outing was the final touch in a brutal loss.
Perhaps most concerning, however, was Roberts’ lack of faith in the Dodgers lineup to initially overcome a one-run deficit.
Did Andre Jackson tip pitches?
Considering how drastic Jackson’s results were against the Cubs when compared to his other appearances this season, the Dodgers wondered if another factor was at play.
“Andre has been throwing the baseball well for us, and it seemed like they were on everything,” said Roberts. “We’ve got to dig in. I don’t know if he was tipping pitches or what, but they were just on too many pitches. We’ve got to clean some things up, but no excuse. He’s got to be better too.”
Jackson has shown success in short bursts, but with all young arms without spectacular stuff and command, they’re susceptible to sudden struggles.
Of 22 swings that made contact against Jackson, the Cubs had an average exit velocity of 96.2 mph.
“Shoot, I don’t know. Maybe,” Jackson said when asked if he potentially tipped pitches. “It’s something we’re always working on, and I’ll have to go look at it to see what happened.”
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