SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers confirmed the type of battle on the plate that had been missing in latest days. However they could not fairly increase themselves out of the opening they’d been digging for the previous week.
The Dodgers misplaced their seventh recreation in a row on Friday night time at Oracle Park, falling 8-7 to the Giants. It marked their longest dropping streak since September 2017, once they dropped 11 straight video games.
Listed below are three takeaways from the loss that resulted in L.A.’s worst skid in practically eight years:
Bats waking upThrough the primary six video games of the dropping streak, the Dodgers have been slumping badly on the plate. They have been outscored 44-10, plating two runs or fewer in 5 of the six video games. The bats got here alive within the sequence opener, however not sufficient to place them excessive.
Shohei Ohtani received the Dodgers on the board with a splash, slugging a two-run shot — his NL-leading thirty second homer — into McCovey Cove within the third inning to place his group forward, 2-1. However Dustin Could misplaced his command within the innings that adopted, and he was chased from the sport with two outs within the fifth, when the Giants surged to a six-run lead.
The Giants tagged Could for seven runs, and so they received one other off Anthony Banda. However the Dodgers received themselves again within the recreation shortly, plating 4 runs within the sixth off a Teoscar Hernández two-run double and a Michael Conforto two-run homer. They inched inside one run when Mookie Betts hit a one-out triple and scored on a Will Smith RBI single within the seventh.
L.A. had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with one out for Smith within the high of the ninth, however the backstop grounded right into a double play to finish the sport.
“We simply strung some hits collectively, one thing we’ve not completed shortly,” Betts stated. “Clearly, I do know it sucks, however it’s a must to attempt to take some optimistic out of it. No less than we battled again.”
Insurmountable deficitMay will not be the one Dodgers pitcher to be hit exhausting throughout the dropping streak. Some particular person season-worst pitching performances have taken place throughout the streak:
Each beginning pitcher desires to place his group able to win, whatever the scenario. Could stated the Dodgers’ downturn didn’t put him beneath any extra stress.
“I imply, I attempt to do this each time I’m going out, whether or not we’re on a dropping streak or profitable streak. I’m going to offer you my greatest foot ahead,” Could stated. “And it simply wasn’t superb.”
Wild, wild WestWhen the Dodgers misplaced 11 in a row in 2017, they nonetheless went on to win 104 video games … and lead the division by 11 video games at season’s finish. That they had a 14 1/2-game lead when that dropping streak started.
This 12 months’s NL West needs to be extra tightly contested. The Dodgers led by 9 video games after their most up-to-date win on July 3, however their lead has dwindled to 4 video games over the Giants, with the Padres a half-game behind in third.
Fairly than head into the All-Star break with a commanding lead within the division, the Dodgers have given themselves some work to do. There’s loads of time to proper the ship, and regardless that the swoon remains to be ongoing, the Dodgers are hoping to construct on the encouraging indicators they noticed of their newest loss.
“It’s robust,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “However I nonetheless like the blokes we run on the market. It’s simply type of placing issues collectively. I believe any supervisor will say the identical factor. To win a giant league ballgame is hard. However you’ve nonetheless received to pitch properly. You’ve received to catch it and also you’ve received to take good at-bats. If all three of these issues don’t line up in a single night time, it’s exhausting to get a win.”
