The Los Angeles Dodgers tied their National League Championship Series matchup with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night behind masterful pitching performances from Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen.
The Dodgers shut the Cubs out, 1-0, as one of their three hits — an Adrian Gonzalez solo home run — proved to be the difference. One player who has struggled in the series, and the entire postseason, is Yasmani Grandal.
The 27-year-old led the Majors with 27 home runs this season, but this postseason Grandal is just 2-for-19.
Both of his hits came in Game 1 of the NL Division Series. While he’s going through a slump at the plate, Grandal said his focus is squarely on the pitching staff, according to Pedro Moura of the LA Times:
“I slug, I walk, and I catch. In the playoffs, catching is No. 1, getting on base is No. 2, and slugging is No. 3. I’m hitting seventh, and there’s a reason why they have me hitting seventh. They want me to make sure I run the pitching staff like it’s supposed to be ran.
“That’s basically it: I’m gonna run my pitching staff, I’m gonna call a good game and we’re gonna pitch good games, I’m gonna walk, and I’m gonna hit homers.”
Since collecting his pair of hits in the Dodgers’ first postseason game, Grandal is 0-for-15 entering Game 3 of the NLCS on Tuesday. However, he has walked five times and perfectly executed a sacrifice bunt on Sunday night in the ninth inning.
In Game 1 against Cubs left-hander Jon Lester, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts elected to start Carlos Ruiz at catcher, though Grandal entered the game in the top of the seventh inning.
Grandal this season hit .228/.339/.477 with 14 doubles and 72 RBIs in 126 games. He was 0-for-1 with two walks in three plate appearances against Jake Arrieta, who starts Tuesday for the Cubs.
