After an unforeseeable 11-game losing streak, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned to their winning ways with back-to-back series victories against the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals.
With the Dodgers now meeting the Philadelphia Phillies to conclude the road trip, their magic number to clinch the National League West stands at four games. Los Angeles holds a six-game lead over the Nationals for the best record in the NL, and are 3.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians for home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Let’s review the up-and-down two-week stretch for the Dodgers and identify which players contributed and those that continued to slump.
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Chris Taylor: For the first time all season, Taylor is struggling mightily at the plate. In his last 50 plate appearances, he’s hitting .146/.180/.167 with one double and five runs scored.
Behind Taylor’s slump is the fact that he stopped drawing walks and is whiffing at a high clip (four and 26.0 percent, respectively).
Yasmani Grandal: The switch-hitting catcher has tallied two hits in the entire month of September to date. In his last 34 opportunities, Grandal is batting a mere .069/.206/.172 with one home run and five walks to 15 strikeouts.
Curtis Granderson: The downward spiral has continued for Granderson, who slashed just .111/.273/.111 in 33 trips plate appearances.
The veteran outfielder continues to draw walks at an above-average rate (18.2 percent), but is having a hard time getting hits to fall, as evidenced by his unsustainably low .150 BABIP.
Corey Seager: In 44 plate appearances, Seager batted .231/.295/.359 (75 wRC+) with two doubles and a home run. He drew two walks and struck out 12 times, but the main takeaway is that Seager is healthy enough to play shortstop again after missing some time earlier this month.
Pedro Baez: The month of September has not been kind to Baez to say the very least. In his last five appearances, the right-hander has allowed 12 baserunners (seven hits, five walks) and five earned runs (two home runs) in 3.1 innings — amounting to a disastrous 13.50 ERA and 12.46 FIP.
Not surprisingly, Baez accumulated a -0.3 WAR (FanGraphs) during the span — the worst mark for any Dodgers pitcher.
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Yasiel Puig: Since August, Puig has been one of the best two-way right fielders in all of baseball.
In addition to his superb defense, Puig put up a slash line of .295/.326/.545 in 46 plate appearances with five doubles and two home runs to go along with seven RBI and four runs scored.
Justin Turner: The 2017 All-Star is hitting .238 over his last 42 at-bats, but in the same span, he has posted a .805 on-base plus slugging percentage, with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI.
Cody Bellinger: The odds-on NL Rookie of the Year favorite enjoyed another productive week.
In 56 plate appearances, Bellinger hit .277/.393/.532 with four doubles, one triple and two home runs — good for a 126 wRC+.
Rich Hill: It was an excellent two-week period for Hill, who pitched to a 2.81 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 16 innings (three starts).
While he battled with the home run ball (1.7 per nine), Hill struck out 21 batters (11.8 per nine innings) while only walking five (2.8 per nine).
Hyun-Jin Ryu: The southpaw posted a minuscule 0.84 ERA and 2.88 FIP over his last 10.2 innings pitched and struck out over 10 batters per nine, while keeping the home run ball in check (none allowed).
Honorable Mentions
Andre Ethier: Though he received just 15 plate appearances, the longest-tenured Dodger made the most of his opportunities. Ethier hit .429/.467/.714 with two extra-base hits, including his first home run of the season.
Yu Darvish: Darvish led the Dodgers in pitching WAR (FanGraphs) with 0.4 and put up a solid 3.97 ERA, 2.89 FIP and 3.32 xFIP in his last 11.1 innings pitched (two starts).
What’s more, the midseason acquisition tossed seven shutout innings against the Giants on Saturday — helping snap the Dodgers’ 11-game losing streak in the process.
Kenta Maeda: Over his last two starts (eight innings pitched), Maeda posted a 4.50 ERA but fared even better with his peripherals: a 3.78 FIP and 2.99 xFIP. The right-hander struck out 13.5 batters per nine innings and limited his walks to the tune of 1.1 BB/9.
Kenley Jansen: It was another successful two-week timeframe for Jansen, who pitched to an elite 2.08 ERA and 0.62 FIP with seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings — picking up two more saves in the process.
Chase Utley: With an increase of playing time in recent days, Utley hit .235/.278/.588 with three doubles and a home run in 18 plate appearances.
