The Los Angeles Dodgers saw their season-high four-game winning streak come to an end Friday night in the opener of a three-game against the New York Mets. Dodgers top prospect Julio Urias made his Major League debut and labored his way through 2.2. innings.
Urias exited with the Dodgers trailing 3-1, and the Mets’ lead grew to 5-1 in the fifth. While it wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard, Los Angeles did have some opportunities against Jacob deGrom.
However, most of them came early, as the Dodgers managed just three hits from the fourth through eighth inning. They rallied in the ninth off Mets closer Jeurys Familia, culminating with Chase Utley hitting a three-run triple that tied the game with two outs.
The effort was quickly washed away as Pedro Baez allowed a walk-off solo home run to Curtis Granderson two pitches into the bottom of the ninth. While Baez is at the core of the Dodgers’ loss, manager Dave Roberts took umbrage with his club’s offensive approach, via Andy McCullough of the LA Times:
“When we get going and we get some momentum like last inning, there’s some good things happening. But too many times during a game, we go dry,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of noncompetitive at-bats and a lot of quick outs. And really not playing as an offensive unit, as one. Sometimes, we give those guys too many quick outs.”
After splitting a four game series against the Mets at Dodgers Stadium earlier this month, Roberts said he wasn’t concerned with the team’s offensive struggles. The rookie manager did, however, express frustration last week over his club’s inability to generate consistency.
Los Angeles enters play on Saturday with a 25-24 record and 4.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West division.
