The Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggles against San Francisco Giants’ left-hander Ty Blach continued on Sunday, as the club ultimately dropped another series to their rival.
Blach logged six innings in the finale, yielding six hits and two earned runs while accumulating four strikeouts. The excellent outing further improved the 27-year-old’s career numbers against the Dodgers.
In three starts this season, Blach has limited the Dodgers to just three runs in 17 innings pitched (1.59 ERA). Furthermore, he owns a 2.03 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over 53.1 innings with 24 strikeouts to 17 walks in 10 games (seven starts).
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was critical of the club’s at-bats against Blach, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Today, Blach was on the corners, he was down, changing speeds, he pitched well,” said Roberts. “With that said, we abandoned our relentlessness to run into deep counts too quickly. There’s a little bit of panic in our at-bats where we feel we have to end an at-bat sooner than I think we should. When you can’t count on running an at-bat like we should, this is going to happen.”
While the Dodgers out-hit the Giants, 8-6, in the contest, most of the lineup struggled while Blach was on the mound.
One of the few Dodgers hitters to find success was Cody Bellinger, who went 2-for-2 against Blach before being benched in the sixth inning after not hustling on his double in the previous frame.
With the loss, the Dodgers have now dropped five of their last six games. The offense has particularly struggled, with the exception of the club’s 12-run outburst in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.
Though, Roberts has been impressed with the quality of Joc Pederson’s at-bats lately and believes the 26-year-old will be a “big part” of the club’s success going forward.
