The Los Angeles Dodgers have compiled a disappointing 2-5 record to kick off the regular season, noticeably struggling at the plate as a collective group. With one week in the books, the club has been shut out three times, while scoring just one run in another contest as well.
The Dodgers’ latest offensive woes came courtesy of Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin, who threw 7.1 scoreless innings on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. He allowed just one hit while accumulating a career-high 12 strikeouts in the process.
Corbin tossed a heavy dose of sliders against the Dodgers, which proved to be an effective tactic. He threw the pitch over 54 percent of the time — an increase from 48.4 percent in his first outing against the Colorado Rockies — and limited hard contact for the most part.
That shouldn’t be surprising, as the Dodgers have faltered against off-speed pitches in the early going. Manager Dave Roberts believes the club must make the proper adjustments and stop sitting back on fastballs when ahead of the count, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“We’re an aggressive offense, we hit off the fastball. I do see there’s a tendency for guys to pitch us backwards,” said Roberts. “They get into a good count and throw soft. Pitchers aren’t going to give in to our hitters because we can slug, so there’s an adjustment we have to potentially make.
“We have to have the thought of not selling out to the fastball when we get into a count. Some guys shift the field and try not to pull the baseball. But even just the mindset of knowing they might pitch you backwards, allows the mindset to check off the fastball. There’s been many times we get into a good count and we get out of the zone because we’re selling out on the fastball.”
The Dodgers have thrived against fastballs meanwhile, dating back to their World Series run from a season ago. Opposing teams have picked up on that trend and are limiting their exposure to heaters.
Through seven games, the Dodgers have seen fastballs just 55.9 percent of the time. That’s down from 57.9 percent from last year and only figures to continue decreasing until the team can prove to curb their struggles against breaking balls.
The Dodgers look to snap a three-game losing streak on Friday, when they head to AT&T Park for another series with the San Francisco Giants.
