With a loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their first series in over a month. They’d previously won nine consecutive series dating back to a three-game set with the Washington Nationals in the middle of May.
It was a particularly frustrating defeat, as the Dodgers made plenty of solid contact against Cubs starter Jon Lester. They hit over a dozen balls off the bat that registered at a minimum of 95 mph against the left-hander.
It was to no avail, however, as Lester logged seven shutout innings. Los Angeles ultimately couldn’t cash in on their opportunities, as they were only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position while leaving seven men on base.
It was a carryover from what held true in the doubleheader the day prior and recent games against other opponents as well.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts attributed the club’s loss to the Cubs due to a lack of situational hitting, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“We have to situational hit, too,” Roberts said. “We had opportunities this series and we didn’t come through. Sometimes you do have to get a guy over to then hit a fly ball or a grounder to get him in. We had opportunities to do that. We need to get better. We need to get better. That’s definitely one facet. But I think every manager will say their team needs better situational hitting. But, absolutely, when you’re not hitting the ball out of the ballpark things do get magnified. And when you go up against good, quality pitching, when you do get opportunities which are harder to come by, you do have to sometimes manufacture, absolutely.”
As Roberts points out, it is critical to manufacture runs — especially when home runs are difficult to come by. The Dodgers received just one homer in the series, via Joc Pederson in the opener, and overall, left 31 runners on base in the three-game set.
Still, Roberts came away “feeling good” with his team’s efforts after a competitive series with the Cubs. They will next meet for a four-game series at Dodger Stadium that begins Monday.
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