The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-10 start this season matched that of the 2013 season. That year, the team at one point fell to 9.5 games back of first place in the National League West. Los Angeles wound up winning the division by 11 games, buoyed by a historic 42-8 stretch.
Coming off a pair of blowout losses, the Dodgers faced the prospect of being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. They fell behind in the first inning, but Brandon McCarthy didn’t allow a run after that point. McCarthy’s start of seven innings was his longest outing since April 2015.
The Dodgers rallied for six runs in the fifth, capped off by a Yasmani Grandal two-run homer. Their road trip continues with a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants. It’s the first series this season between the longtime rivals.
Despite some of their early struggles and inconsistency this season, Grandal said the Dodgers are not in a state of despair, via SportsNet LA:
“There’s no panic. I feel like we’ve been playing really good games, so for the most part we feel really good.”
Manager Dave Roberts echoed a similar sentiment after his team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks, saying the Dodgers are “right on track” as they head to AT&T Park. At 9-10, the Dodgers sit four games back of the NL-West leading Colorado Rockies. The Giants are worst in the NL and second-worst in the Majors at 6-13.
The Dodgers have not won more than two games in a row since defeating the San Diego Padres on April 5 and 6, and their longest losing streak this season is three games.
