Situational Hitting Again Results in a Dodgers Loss
At this point in the season you can point a blaming finger at any member of the Dodgers organization. Hitting, pitching, base running, management, you name it. Every bit of it seems to need some work. And it’s one of the main reasons Los Angeles is now nine games under the 500 mark.
That trent carried into Tuesday night’s game in Miami.
You will not believe this, but Yasiel Puig was stranded at third base in the third. The Dodgers have yet to produce a hit against Wei-Yin Chen.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) May 15, 2018
To put it simply, the Dodgers have not taken advantage of any opportunities to score runs. Their struggles with the long ball are well known, even if they hit two last night. But the main issue has been that hitting with runners in scoring position has been essentially nonexistent.
Los Angeles went 0-7 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. Even when they managed to capitalize on the base paths they could not cash in a run. Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig provided solo shots for the only run support the whole game. The issue extends far beyond last night’s game.
Let’s go back just a week. Dating back to last Tuesday, the Dodgers have left 45 runners on base. That is in just seven games. That averages out to roughly six runners left on base every game. Worse than that, they definitely can’t hit when a runner moves beyond first base. They have gone 9-56 with runners in scoring position in that span. A 161 batting average with runners looking to come around is certain to lose you some games. Certainly understandable why they lost six of those games.
The Good News
Justin Turner is back. And yes, he does not define the whole team. But third basemen were hitting right around 200 in his absence. And you can’t discount the fact that Turner hit 322 overall in 2017 including hitting 300 with runners in scoring position. He even drove in 42 runs when he had those opportunities. he will not get the team to a 100 win season by himself, but it certainly helps having his bat in there.
Now if only the rest of the team could find their groove.
https://dodgersnation.com/series-preview-dodgers-look-to-rebound-in-miami-ac0899/2018/05/15/