A comfortable spot to be in for the Los Angeles Dodgers is their lead in the National League West, but over the past week they dropped a pair of series to division opponents.
The Dodgers salvaged one win during their three-game set against the San Francisco Giants, and did the same with a comeback for a walk-off on Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Their pitching has faltered, which has been problematic, placing them in big holes to climb out of or failing to protect leads.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is working with the options at his disposal, but the performance has lacked from where their baseline has been, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It’s not pretty,” Roberts said of the team’s play while losing series to division rivals, the Giants and Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers are 4-5 this season against the Diamondbacks, who have been a thorn in their side since the beginning of last year. Included in that stretch is the Diamondbacks sweeping the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
Austin Barnes noted the Dodgers pitching staff hasn’t been up to expected level of performance and thus left them in tough spots offensively:
“I feel like we just haven’t been pitching very well, honestly,” Barnes said. “It’s hard to win games when we have no momentum, are behind in the game a lot. I feel like that’s kind of the biggest thing right now. We’re not doing things very well on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Dodgers still rank towards the top in overall statistics on the season, but the injuries and hiccups have crept up. Division opponents playing on top of their game makes for high-leverage settings, adding to the pressure of each game.
Looking ahead, the Dodgers have work to do to weather the current storm before the trade deadline if they choose to go outside the organization for help.
Upcoming Dodgers schedule
Beginning on Friday, the Dodgers open a tough stretch of games against the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, both of whom lead their respective divisions.
The Dodgers have a high mark to maintain expectations and need to find momentum going into late July. There isn’t much for them to do in the now except for roster evaluation, and against two formidable opponents, they’ll have a good test.
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