The Los Angeles Dodgers closed their homestand in disappointing fashion but manager Dave Roberts expressed confidence his team’s offense would find its footing on their road trip.
There are still five games remaining, but the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals was another quiet showing by the Dodgers in their 7-2 loss. L.A. went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base.
They also failed to hit a home run for the fourth consecutive game, which is their longest streak since June 2023.
“I think there’s some pitches that we’re getting that we’re missing,” Roberts said on SportsNet LA. “I think the intent is still to hit the ball hard and take good at-bats. I don’t have an answer for the no slug, the no homers. Certainly, there’s got to be a balance of slug, base hits and all that stuff.
“When we do get count leverage, we’re not taking advantage of it. But it’s hard to kind of assess the entire group on why we’re not slugging for the last couple weeks.”
While the Dodgers remained mired in a power outage, Roberts believed there were encouraging signs with Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker, Will Smith and Max Muncy.
“I thought certain guys swung the bat well. Freddie, Tuck’s coming out of it. Other guys are still trying to find their way. I don’t have an answer for tonight,” Roberts said. “Obviously they got big hits, there were some line drives that were right at guys. In total, they swung the bats better than we did, and we didn’t play well enough.
“I think right now certain guys, a lot of guys are trying to find their swing. They’re just not too comfortable. But like I said, I think Tucker is coming out of it, squaring the ball up. I think Freddie had a good night tonight as far as swinging the bat well, and I thought Will took some good swings tonight.
“Muncy, he’s been ailing a little bit, but I think the last couple weeks he’s been pretty solid. As far as the other guys, I don’t have an answer for the slug.”
Freeman had two hits, and Smith and Muncy both reached base multiple times. Tucker was held hitless but had a 95.7 mph exit velocity on his sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.
Dodgers lineup not changing
Roberts historically has not been a manager to adjust the batting order in response to players scuffling, and outside of recently swapping Tucker and Freeman, that’s going to remain the case moving forward. Partly because of the Dodgers having
“It’s that fine balance of trying to mix things up a little bit and potentially giving guys a different look, kind of like we did with Freeman and Tucker,” Roberts began.
“But then again, trying to do too much to try to create something, if guys aren’t swinging the bat well, where they’re hitting in the order and also I have to make decisions on what’s a better option. I think right now, unfortunately we have a lot more guys that aren’t swinging the bats well than are.
“So shuffling the lineup, I just don’t think that’s a solution right now. Outside of versus left, versus right.”
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