The Los Angeles Dodgers escaped Pennsylvania on Thursday with an 11-7 shootout victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The win helped the Dodgers avoid a sweep, but it was far from pretty. Manager Dave Roberts had to dig into his bullpen early for the second straight night with Walker Buehler only tossing three innings thanks in part to three throwing errors and a dropped fly ball that led to runs and extended innings.
While it didn’t result in a loss, Roberts was certainly unhappy with the way L.A.’s defense performed in what was a must-win effort to avoid a sweep. The Dodgers have not been known for their stellar defense this season, but have not pieced together bad games like Thursday routinely.
Roberts was emphatic when discussing Thursday’s effort, focusing on the mutual relationship between the pitchers and the defense, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Yeah, it was the worst defensive game of the year,” Roberts said. “You have a starter go short last night (James Paxton). You have a starter go three innings. It seems like because of the lack of defense, pitchers are throwing way more pitches than they should have. They’ve got to take responsibility too. But the defense goes hand in hand with the pitching.
“You’re supposed to get 27 outs. We gifted them at least a half dozen. We gave away bases, outs. It wasn’t good. We’ll take the win. But it was certainly at a cost, going into a big series.”
Mookie Betts, who made two of the three Dodgers errors in the win, tried to focus on the positive while still taking some responsibility:
“That’s definitely the most important part, winning, no matter how it looks. A win is a win,” said Mookie Betts, who made two throwing errors (his eighth and ninth errors of the season at shortstop). “Especially myself, I mean, I gotta clean up a lot of things. Back to the drawing board. Back to working. But, you know, a win is a win.”
The Dodgers have a quick turnaround before Friday’s game in New York against the Yankees, and they are hopeful that with a new series comes a clean slate defensively.
Mookie Betts’ defensive work not causing offensive decline
Following a stellar start to the regular season, Betts has had a bit of a setback with both his bat and his glove.
His play at shortstop comes with a grain of salt because of the task of playing such an important position for the first time. Betts has been learning on the fly since being named starting shortstop a week before the season.
Some questions over his extensive pregame defensive work he’s added being a detriment to his overall play have been brushed off as a reason for the downward trend.
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