While the Los Angeles Dodgers’ inconsistent offense faced plenty of criticism through the first two months of the regular season, the group turned the corner heading into the All-Star break, led by Howie Kendrick and Justin Turner among those reaching their expected level of production.
That carried into the unofficial second half of the season, with the Dodgers exploding for 13 runs on a season-high 18 hits in the three-game series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
However, the bats again went quiet over the weekend, which resulted in a pair of one-run losses for the Dodgers. They were dropped in 12 innings on Saturday and saw a ninth-inning rally fall short Sunday.
One of Dodgers’ primary issues was the inability to hit with runners in scoring position, which manager Dave Roberts touched on after losing the series.
That was particularly evident on Sunday when Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor both struck out to end the game with the tying run stranded at third base. In Puig’s case, Roberts said the 25-year-old is suffering from attempting to do much, according to ESPN’s Doug Padilla:
“I think he’s trying to do too much,” Roberts said of Puig. “When guys get into scoring position, and it gets hot, Yasiel, you can see the tension and he starts to squeeze the bat too much. I think it’s a case of trying to do too much.”
While Puig has been an improved overall hitter since returning from the disabled list, he showed some of the tendencies during his ninth-inning at-bat on Sunday that led to struggles earlier in the year.
He was late on a fastball from Diamondbacks rookie reliever Jake Barrett, fouled off another fastball, and chased a slider low and away. Nonetheless, Puig this season is batting .313/.366/.438 with 23 RBIs, four walks and 11 strikeouts when runners are in scoring position.
The Dodgers as a team rank 21st in the Majors with a .246 batting average and .304 wOBA with runners in scoring position. Their 91 wRC+ plus in such situations is 20th-best in baseball.
Of note, Puig is again the subject of trade rumors, with the latest report having the Dodgers as being open to moving their enigmatic outfielder.
