SEATTLE — When the Dodgers traded for Brock Stewart at the trade deadline, they knew he came with some risk.
But on Friday, their worst-case scenario was realized.
Stewart will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, manager Dave Roberts announced, leaving the Dodgers without the only significant deadline addition they made to bolster their struggling bullpen.
Although the Dodgers have been managing several injury concerns — from Will Smith’s fractured hand, to Tommy Edman’s sore ankle, to leg bruises that Max Muncy revealed on Friday he has been dealing with — Stewart’s status had become among the most alarming.
Even after completing a minor-league rehab stint for a shoulder problem that had kept him out since early August, he continued to feel residual soreness.
After meeting with head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache this week, Stewart and the team decided surgery would be best. According to general manager Brandon Gomes, the 33-year-old is having a debridement procedure that should allow him to pitch the “majority” of next season, when he will still be under Dodgers control.
But for this October, the club will have to proceed without him.
“We had a lot of conversations with Brock, and he was like, ‘Hey, I want to help this team in any way possible,’” Gomes said. “But watching him throw and just having the conversations with him, there was still something that was just bothering him. As much as we would love to have him right now, we don’t want to put his long-term health at risk.”
Shoulder problems are nothing new for Stewart. Last season, he made just 16 appearances with the Minnesota Twins before undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery in August.
While this latest injury is not believed to be directly related to last year’s issue, Gomes did acknowledge that “any time you’re taking on a pitcher, we understand that there are risks.”
It’s not that the Dodgers overpaid for Stewart, giving up only former prospect James Outman in their deadline deal with the Twins. But, by not adding a bigger name in a bullpen that had been slumping even before the deadline (and has further spiraled in the two months since), the Dodgers put a lot of eggs in the right-hander’s basket. He was supposed to give the unit some experienced stability. Now, he leaves yet another hole to fill.
Without Stewart, the Dodgers’ right-handed relief hierarchy is somewhat unclear. They still have longtime stalwart Blake Treinen, but he has posted a career-worst 5.47 ERA and dealt with first-half arm troubles. Hard-throwing rookie Edgardo Henriquez has a 2.50 ERA in 21 appearances, but still has just 21⅓ career innings in the big leagues. And then there’s Roki Sasaki, the rookie Japanese phenom who returned from a nearly five-month shoulder injury with an auspicious inning out of the bullpen this week.
Another name that could enter the mix: Starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan, who was scheduled to pitch Friday’s series-opener against the Seattle Mariners but will likely be shifted to a multi-inning relief role out of the bullpen come the postseason.
In any event, however, Stewart’s absence will still hurt. What the Dodgers hoped would be a high-upside play, given his 2.38 ERA with the Twins this season, has instead become yet another bullpen letdown.
PHOENIX — The Dodgers might’ve finally found an answer to their long-maddening bullpen problems.
Just use some starters.
In a 5-4 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to one, the Dodgers again squandered a late-game lead when their traditional relievers faltered. They still didn’t make winning look as simple as it should have.
But win, they did on this night — thanks in large part to two scoreless innings of relief from Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw.
The game wasn’t decided until the 11th inning, when Tommy Edman gave the Dodgers a lead they finally wouldn’t relinquish.
It never would’ve gotten there, however, without the contributions of Sasaki and Kershaw out of the bullpen.
Activated from the injured list shortly before the game, and making his first appearance in the majors since suffering a shoulder injury in early May, Sasaki flashed promising signs with a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh, protecting a 3-1 lead the team had been staked to by Blake Snell’s six-inning, one-run start, and an early offensive outburst that included a two-run homer from Andy Pages.
Sasaki’s fastball averaged 98-99 mph, was located with precision on the corners of the strike zone, and even induced a couple of swing-and-misses, things he never did consistently while posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts at the beginning of the season.
He paired it with a trademark splitter that was also commanded with more precision than at any point in his initial MLB stint.
Sasaki needed only 13 pitches to retire the side in order, punctuating his outing with a pair of strikeouts on 99-mph four-seamers. As he walked back to the dugout, he glanced toward his teammates with a stoic glare. Just about all of them, including Shohei Ohtani, applauded in approval.
Disaster did strike in the eighth, after the Dodgers extended their lead to 4-1 on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double in the top half of the inning.
The bullpen’s one season-long stalwart, Alex Vesia, ran into trouble by giving up a single to Ketel Marte, a walk to Geraldo Perdomo, and an RBI double to Corbin Carroll — all with one out.
Hard-throwing rookie righty Edgardo Henriquez couldn’t put out the fire from there, giving up one run on a swinging bunt from Gabriel Moreno in front of the plate that spun away from catcher Ben Rortvedt, then another when pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo stayed alive on a generous two-strike call (which was no doubt impacted by Rortvedt dropping the pitch behind the plate) before lifting a sacrifice fly to center.
For the second straight night, a late-game three-run lead had evaporated into thin air.
This time, however, manager Dave Roberts had a new card to play. A night after Kershaw volunteered to pitch in relief, the future Hall of Fame left-hander was summoned for the ninth inning.
In what was his first relief appearance since the infamous fifth game of the 2019 NL Division Series, Kershaw was effective. He retired the side in order with the help of a diving catch from Tommy Edman in center. He looked comfortable in the kind of high-leverage relief role the Dodgers might need him to fill come October.
In extras, the rest of the bullpen finally held up. Blake Treinen inherited a bases-loaded jam with two out in the 10th, but got James McCann to fly out to shallow right field. Justin Wrobleski (another pitcher who began this season as a starter) was handed a save situation in the 11th, after Edman singled home a run with his third hit of the night, and retired all three batters he faced.
At some point, the Dodgers hope, they will be able to field a fully healthy lineup.
A late scratch on Wednesday to catcher Will Smith, however, meant it would have to wait at least a couple more days.
Despite activating Tommy Edman from the injured list pregame, and proceeding to sweep the Colorado Rockies with a 9-0 win that stretched their National League West lead to three games, the Dodgers were left dealing with another injury headache Wednesday, removing Smith from the starting lineup just 15 minutes before first pitch after swelling developed around the bone bruise he has been dealing with in his right hand.
“Not overly concerned,” manager Dave Roberts said of Smith’s status, “but we’ve got to get that swelling under wraps.”
Smith’s absence hardly hampered the Dodgers in their fourth straight win.
Their lineup exploded for four runs in the second inning and five in the eighth behind a huge night from Mookie Betts, who continued his recent tear with a four-for-five, five-RBI performance that included a run-scoring double early and a grand slam to put things away late. Betts is now on a 16-game on-base streak, has multiple RBIs in five-straight contests, and is batting .352 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs over his last 32 games.
Behind the plate, Ben Rortvedt filled in to catch Blake Snell’s scoreless six-inning, 11-strikeout start, which continued a dominant run from a Dodgers’ rotation that now has a 1.18 ERA over the last six games.
And thanks to a loss earlier in the day by the San Diego Padres, the team grew its lead atop the division for a second day in a row, effectively taking a 3-½ game NL West lead (when accounting for its head-to-head tiebreaker over San Diego) with 16 games to play.
“That was a big home series sweep, to get us going … get us moving in the right direction,” Snell said. “All of us have been looking forward to getting it going. This was a really good step.”
Yet, after activating Max Muncy off the injured list Monday, and welcoming Edman back into the fold Wednesday afternoon, the Dodgers were finally on the verge of having a full-strength squad for the first time since early July.
Instead, they were reminded of the tenuous reality of their oft-injured roster — and the difficulty of trying to manage Smith’s hand in particular.
It had only been a week since Smith first got hurt, when a foul ball in Pittsburgh ricocheted off his dangling throwing hand behind the plate and left him with a bone bruise that sidelined him until Tuesday — though didn’t require an injured list stint. Smith had looked OK in his return to action that night, lining a double in his first at-bat while helping Emmet Sheehan carry a no-hitter into the sixth. He was back in the original lineup the Dodgers posted Wednesday, as they sought a series sweep over the 106-loss Rockies.
The issue, it appeared, might be behind him.
But then, when the Dodgers emerged from the dugout Wednesday night, it was Rortvedt who went to squat behind home plate.
“Literally 15 minutes before the game, as he’s getting ready, his hand started to swell up,” Roberts said. “After [his pregame] hitting, getting dressed, getting ready for the game, that’s when it started to show itself. He tried to get out there and throw. It just didn’t respond well.”
After Smith first got hurt, Roberts cautioned his injury could linger for the rest of the season. After Wednesday, he said the team would monitor Smith on Thursday’s off day –– and potentially send him for an MRI –– then decide on Friday whether he’ll play in this weekend’s series-opener in San Francisco.
“We’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Roberts said.
Miguel Rojas slides home to score a run in the second inning.
(Eric Thayer/Eric Thayer For The Los Angeles)
Smith’s hand won’t be the only injury the Dodgers (82-64) will have to manage down the stretch.
While Edman returned from an ankle injury that had plagued him all year, and sidelined him since its own flare-up on Aug. 3, Roberts said pregame he was still curious to see how the utilityman looked.
Edman slotted in center field on Wednesday — where he tracked down a fly ball on the game’s first pitch — and will likely see most of his playing time there for at least the foreseeable future. Roberts noted that, unlike earlier this year when Edman was mainly limited to infield duties, the quick reactions required at second base might be tougher on his ankle now.
“Getting off the ball is something I’m going to be really mindful of watching,” Roberts said of Edman. “Once he gets to full speed, it’s a lot easier [to decide what he can handle].”
With Edman in center, the Dodgers also ran out a new outfield alignment, with Andy Pages moving to left field and Michael Conforto dropping to the bench.
Roberts said Conforto will still see playing time against right-handed pitchers (the Rockies started left-hander Kyle Freeland on Wednesday). He also didn’t close the door on eventually flipping Pages (who had three hits Wednesday, including an RBI double in the second to open the scoring) and Teoscar Hernández (who went deep in the eighth for his third home run in the last two nights) in the corners, though noted he is keeping Hernández in right for now thanks to his improved defensive play in recent weeks.
“Teo played the season last year in left field, so we’ve shown that we can win a championship with him in left field,” Roberts said. “Not quite there yet, but thinking about it.”
Despite the moving pieces, it all brought the Dodgers closer to the lineup they envisioned having at the start of this season, the one they’ve floundered with offensively (entering the night ranked just 26th in the majors in scoring since July 4) while playing without.
“I think that we’ve all been waiting for our guys to come back to health and see what we look like,” Roberts said.
Still, they won’t be at full strength again until Smith is. Wednesday was a reminder that his health remains in doubt.
Roberts said that could include finding the rookie right-hander, who finally rediscovered his 100-mph fastball Tuesday after lacking velocity and battling a shoulder injury previously this year, an opportunity to start a big-league game for the first time since April. Or, potentially pitching out of the bullpen, which is how the 23-year-old would likely be used if he were to be included on the postseason roster.
Before that latter scenario could become reality, of course, the Dodgers will need to see Sasaki have some sort of success back in the majors, where he had a 4.72 ERA in eight starts at the beginning of the season before going on the IL.
Nonetheless, Roberts described Sasaki’s rehab outing on Tuesday as “great for the Dodgers, great for Roki’s confidence, great for the organization.
“Mostly it was great for Roki,” Roberts added. “Just to really let it eat, let it fly, have some success and know that he can be the guy that he’s known to be.”
PITTSBURGH — Now is the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes, for his team’s intensity to rise.
And if the external pressures of a tight National League West race, postseason seeding implications and a looming World Series title defense in October don’t do it, then maybe, he hopes, increased internal battles for playing time will.
For a while on Tuesday night, in a series opener against the perpetually rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers showed fight. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in an ugly first inning, but the lineup clawed its way back to even the score — thanks, in part, to a 120-mph rocket of a home run from Shohei Ohtani in the third, his 46th of the season and 100th as a Dodger and a tying solo blast from Andy Pages in the fourth.
Kershaw, meanwhile, settled down to get through five innings without any more damage, retiring 13 of his final 15 batters to put the Dodgers in position for a come-from-behind win.
Instead…
The bullpen faltered, with Edgardo Henriquez (who hadn’t given up a run in his first 12 outings this year) and Blake Treinen (who had finally started looking like himself again after an early-season elbow injury) combining for three runs conceded to break the tie in the sixth.
The lineup couldn’t overcome another big deficit, scoring twice in the seventh only for the Pirates to get the runs back in the next two innings.
And once more, the Dodgers fell to a team miles behind them in the standings, losing 9-7 at PNC Park to drop their 10th game out of the last 14 against opponents with losing records this season.
“There were different points in the game that we showed some life,” Roberts said. “And then, unfortunately, we just couldn’t kind of put up that zero to build off of it.”
Still, the Dodgers’ inability to beat bad teams has underscored a persistent issue with the club.
They’ve been inconsistent, struggling to stack clean performances or any semblance of an extended winning streak. They’ve at times lacked urgency, failing to pull away from the slumping Padres in the division or get back in position for a top-two NL playoff seed (which would give them an all-important first-round bye in the postseason).
For all their efforts to rally on Tuesday, they also saw each of their three outfielders fail to snag tough but catchable balls, an eighth-inning wild pitch by Anthony Banda led to one key insurance run and a general lack of execution cost them in other key spots (like when they managed only one run from a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second).
“Obviously we didn’t play well. We all know that,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Don’t have to necessarily have a team come-to-Jesus [moment] about it. We’ve just got to find ways to win games. There’s no secret formula about it. It doesn’t matter if a team’s below .500 or above .500. Especially right now, we’ve got to find ways to win games. We’re not doing it.”
Still, neither a soft spot in the schedule nor the realities of the calendar has remedied that issue.
Thus, Roberts highlighted another potential solution in his pregame address — acknowledging that players who don’t step up their performance soon could see their playing time get cut as the roster returns to full health.
“We got some guys coming back, and guys are gonna get opportunities,” Roberts said. “As we get into September, where all these games certainly matter, you got to have guys that you trust.”
On Monday, when MLB rosters expanded to 28 players at the start of September, the Dodgers (78-60) activated two key pieces from the injured list: Infielder Hyeseong Kim, who had been out since late July with a shoulder injury; and reliever Michael Kopech, who had been limited to eight appearances this year because of arm troubles and a meniscus surgery in his knee.
Next homestand, more reinforcements could be on the way, with Max Muncy and Tommy Edman beginning rehab assignments with triple-A Oklahoma City this week.
Before long, the Dodgers’ long-shorthanded depth chart could suddenly be crowded. And as a result, tough decisions could loom in left field, at second base and in the bullpen — forcing the issues for a number of players at various spots on the roster.
“I do think just kind of naturally it raises the level of performance and intensity,” Roberts said, pointing to veteran infielder Miguel Rojas as one example of someone who is “fighting for playing time” with recently improved play.
“I tip my cap to him,” Roberts said. “I’m expecting that from a lot of other guys as well.”
Roberts said Edman will play mostly center fielder during his rehab stint, something he had been unable to do earlier this season while battling an ankle injury. Once he’s back, that means someone such as Michael Conforto (who went 0-for-three with a walk Tuesday to dip to .189 on the season in batting average) could drop to the bench, leaving the corner outfield spots for Pages and Teoscar Hernández.
In the infield, Kim will likely figure in at second base (though could also kick out to left field, where he saw time during his own recent rehab assignment). That will create one more slice in an infield pie that is already being divvied between Rojas, Kiké Hernandez and Alex Freeland. Once Muncy is back at third, at-bats will be at even more of a premium.
The same situation could unfold in the bullpen, which will also get Alex Vesia and Brock Stewart back this month from their own injuries. That will raise the pressure on struggling offseason signings Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to continue earning leverage opportunities.
How it all shakes out remains unclear.
But where there are more options, the Dodgers believe, better production — and intensity — will follow. To this point, nothing else seems to be consistently raising the team’s level of play.
A funny thing blocked the path to another Andrew Friedman midsummer triumph.
An Andrew Friedman midsummer failure.
The Dodgers and their renowned baseball boss came to bat at baseball’s trade deadline Thursday poised to knock another fat midseason pitch out of the park en route to a second consecutive World Series championship.
They never took the bat off their shoulder.
Strike out, staring.
The Dodgers needed a proven closer. Six teams picked up proven closers. The Dodgers weren’t one of them.
Mason Miller went to the San Diego Padres, Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees, Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays, Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets, Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies and David Bednar to the New York Yankees.
Some other reliever went to the Dodgers. I think his name was Brock Stewart or something.
How does this make sense? Are they watching what we’re watching?
So you’re telling me they must forge ahead through the rest of the season hoping that Tanner Scott gets healthy or Kirby Yates gets consistent or Blake Treinen gets younger or, heck, maybe the Boston Red Sox cut Walker Buehler and he comes back for one more ninth inning! That’s crazy, but this entire situation is crazy, a $400-million roster with nobody to pitch the last out.
The Dodger also entered Thursday needing a defensive-minded outfielder. Four teams found one. The Dodgers did not.
Harrison Bader went to the Phillies, Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk to the Kansas City Royals, Austin Slater to the Yankees and Cedric Mullins to the Mets.
The Dodgers picked up an outfielder named Alex…is it Call?
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So now Dodger fans are haunted with the fear that Michael Conforto will lose a fly ball down the left-field line on Halloween with the season on the line.
This is all so weird. This is all so, well, arrogant.
Granted, the Dodgers have baseball’s best team on paper, but they’ve had its best team for several years and that hasn’t stopped Friedman from dominating the last week in July.
One could argue that Friedman actually won last year’s championship by brilliantly acquiring Jack Flaherty and Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech at the deadline.
This has always been Friedman’s strength, humbly adding talent to a group already possessing riches of talent.
Remember, this is the time of year he also once traded for Rich Hill, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Evan Phillips, all of whom led them deep into the playoffs.
The only two years during which Friedman has fumbled the deadline? He failed to acquire pitching in 2022 and they were beaten by the Padres. He brought in only Lance Lynn in 2023 and they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
This suddenly feels like one of those years.
“We felt like this is an incredibly talented group that, as we get healthy and these guys hit their stride, we feel like we’re in a great position for another deep run into October,” general manager Brandon Gomes said on a conference call with reporters.
In other words, they think they’re good enough that they don’t need to trade any top prospects for win-now talent.
But are they? And even if they are, why take a chance?
Mookie Betts reacts after striking out against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 20.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
If there’s anything the first 109 games of this season has taught us is that the Dodgers’ greatness, like all greatness in a sport that hasn’t had consecutive champions in a quarter of a decade, can be fleeting.
The window suddenly seems to be slowly closing on the Hall of Fame careers of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Shohei Ohtani has been so physically stressed that he’s leaving games with cramps.
Teoscar Hernández doesn’t look like last year’s revelation. Max Muncy can’t stay on the field. And Edman is batting aches that may last all season.
The rotation is also shaky, with fragile Tyler Glasnow and aging Clayton Kershaw and underwhelming Roki Sasaki and injured Blake Snell and, really, just one sure-fire starter is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“Obviously there was a lot of action today throughout the game, and a lot of teams improved, but we feel really good about this group,” Gomes said. “Coming into the year, felt like this was as talented of a roster as we’ve ever had. We’re in a position where we’re in first place, and I don’t even think we’ve played our best baseball yet. So as we continue to get some of our starters back, and then adding these pieces, and our guys just kind of playing up to their potential, we feel like it’s still a really, really strong team, and we don’t feel any differently about our aspirations than we did at the beginning of the year.”
Through their stunning inaction Thursday, the Dodger clearly made the statement that they’re good enough to a championship without any more help.
All those teams that greatly improved don’t agree.
The baseball world is sensing a Dodger vulnerability, as if there’s blue blood in the water.
Given a chance to dissuade everyone of that notion the Dodgers sighed, shrugged and passed.
A strikeout of a day, a turning point of a season?
CINCINNATI — The Dodgers are dealing with more injuries to their lineup.
As a result, one of their top prospects could get his first big-league opportunity this week.
Alex Freeland, the top-ranked infielder in the Dodgers’ farm system, will be in Cincinnati on Tuesday in case either Tommy Edman (who had his lingering ankle injury flare up on him Sunday while rounding the bases) or Hyeseong Kim (who has been battling a shoulder issue over the last week) needs to go on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ Monday night win over the Reds.
“He’s going to come and we’ll see what direction we go, with who,” Roberts said. “We’re just kind of trying to figure out … if we do need to make a move for one of those guys.”
Freeland, a third-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Central Florida, is the team’s No. 3 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the 35th-ranked prospect in baseball.
The 23-year-old switch-hitter has spent all season with triple-A Oklahoma City, where he has batted .253 with 12 home runs, 71 RBIs and .799 OPS in 94 games.
Now, he might get his first crack at the big-league roster, with the Dodgers facing another round of injury headaches following Monday’s game.
In the short term, Kim’s shoulder injury appears to be the more pressing issue.
The South Korean rookie has struggled mightily at the plate lately, with an 0-for-3 performance Monday leaving him just three for 24 since July 19.
“You can just see offensively with the bat, he’s just not himself right now,” Roberts said.
Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, has struggled at the plate in recent games.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
Edman, however, represents the bigger long-term concern for the Dodgers to manage, with his ankle injury lingering since early May.
“It’s something that’s kind of always there,” Edman said. “But I would say it’s been pretty normal.”
At least it was until Sunday, when Edman said he “had a little tweak of it” while running the bases at Fenway Park.
While Edman was not available for Monday’s game, he maintained optimism he could avoid what would be a second injured list this season and be back in the lineup Tuesday.
“I don’t feel like this is that big a deal,” he said. “I was just at a point where I didn’t feel like I could run full speed today. I got some good treatment today so hopefully I’ll be back available tomorrow.”
Still, the Dodgers could decide that an extended break for the utilityman is warranted — especially since he has been unable to play outfield while trying to manage his injury.
“Obviously, if I couldn’t hit him tonight, for him to not to be able to play three innings of defense, isn’t a great feeling,” Roberts said.
Freeland will be waiting in the wings just in case.
A native of Louisville, Ken., he made a major jump up the Dodgers’ farm system last year, when he progressed from high A to triple A while batting .260 across three minor-league levels.
A disciplined hitter with 228 career walks in 345 career minor-league games, Freeland has received high marks for his defense at shortstop and third base. He also has 81 steals over his four minor-league seasons.
How will the Dodgers determine if Kim or Edman — or both — will need to go on the IL?
“That’s the thing that, it is a blurred line,” Roberts said. “The players obviously feel that they’re not hurt, where they can play and post, which is great. But the line of, are you still hurting the team, hurting yourself, that’s the thing that the organization, the training staff, we’ve got to make that decision.”
When and if they do, the Dodgers know who will be tapped as a potential replacement.
The Dodgers’ recently slumping offense was better Saturday night.
But for a team that has struggled to gain traction and string together wins for almost a month, even a seven-run, 10-hit performance wasn’t quite enough.
In an 8-7 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers put a badly-needed crooked number on the board early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to answer the Brewers four-run rally in the top half of the inning.
The Dodgers manufactured another run in the sixth, keeping the game close on a night Emmet Sheehan struggled in a season-worst start and the bullpen yielded three costly runs late. They even hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth, trimming what had grown to a three-run deficit back to one.
But every time it seemed like they were truly ready to break out, like their long-slumbering lineup was about to roar back to life, the Dodgers still came up ever-frustratingly short.
And no sequence epitomized those headaches like the end of the third.
After a Shohei Ohtani two-run homer, a Teoscar Hernández RBI double and a run-scoring wild pitch from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, the Dodgers had the go-ahead run at third with no outs. They were 90 feet away from flipping the momentum entirely, and completing the kind of ruthless offensive onslaught that has evaded their $400-million roster for the last several weeks.
But then, in an immediate return to their uninspired form of late, the lineup went missing, squandering the opportunity with three quick outs — moments before the Brewers retook a lead their premium pitching staff wouldn’t again relinquish.
So goes life for the Dodgers these days, when even a largely productive day at the plate couldn’t prevent another series defeat to the Brewers or a ninth overall loss in their last 11 games.
Saturday could have been a more profound breakthrough. A game of not just incremental progress, but a total offensive turnaround.
Ohtani had a three-RBI day, starting with his towering 448-foot opposite-field blast. Hernández’s double was one of the best swings he has taken in the last couple months, a line drive into the right-center field gap that one-hopped off the wall. Tommy Edman broke an 0-for-29 skid with a sixth-inning single and eighth-inning home run. Miguel Rojas, one of the few who has impressed during the Dodgers’ recent struggles, followed Edman’s solo blast with one of his own in the next at-bat, completing a two-hit night that also included a walk.
But every time the Dodgers put the Brewers on the ropes, they failed to land the necessary knockout blow.
In a game they needed their lineup to pick up the slack left by a lackluster pitching performance, they repeatedly ran out of rope.
On the verge of taking the lead in the third, the Dodgers instead watched Andy Pages take a called third strike (which he reacted angrily to, despite the pitch being well in the zone), Michael Conforto ground out against a drawn-in infield and Edman hit a can of corn to left to retire the side.
The 4-4 tie was broken in the next inning, when Isaac Collins hit a leadoff home run over the short wall in right field to chase Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan from the game.
Trailing by two in the sixth, the Dodgers threatened again. Edman and Rojas both singled, setting up Ohtani for an RBI knock in left field. But then Will Smith grounded out to second to retire the side.
The final tease came in the eighth, after the Brewers opened up an 8-5 lead.
Edman lifted his home run to the left-field bullpen. Rojas went deep on a similar trajectory.
That brought up Ohtani, representing the potential tying run. But he watched a soaring fly ball die at the warning track in center.
Close, but not enough. Too little, once again coming frustratingly too late.
The bats, of course, were not the Dodgers’ primary problem Saturday.
Sheehan saw his recently promising return from Tommy John surgery derailed in a five-run, three-plus inning outing. During the Brewers’ four-run third, he missed wildly with an array of breaking pitches, and was punished for several sliders that failed to induce a whiff.
The defense wasn’t sharp either, with both Hernández and Pages failing to cut off balls in the gaps at various points.
And generally, the Dodgers have reverted to the overall shoddy play that led to a seven-game losing streak shortly before the All-Star break (three of which came in Milwaukee to the Brewers, who can complete a six-game season sweep of the Dodgers on Sunday).
But the lack of consistently timely offense remains the most confounding issue for the Dodgers.
That was the case even before the game, when manager Dave Roberts gave Mookie Betts — the most glaring underperformer among Dodgers hitters this season — a day off just two games into the second half in hopes it would allow him to clear his mind and work on his swing.
It felt just as prescient in the aftermath of yet another defeat, with the team still searching for a winning formula amid its most disappointing stretch of the year.
This time last year, in a season that bore so many similarities to their current one, a first-place and highly touted Dodgers team temporarily lost its way.
Amid a deluge of pitching injuries (sound familiar?) and the absence of one of its hottest early-season hitters (Mookie Betts, who suffered a broken hand close to the same time Max Muncy went down with a knee injury this year), the club stumbled backward into the All-Star break, going 2-8 in its final 10 games of the first half and 1-5 in a Philadelphia/Detroit road trip that exposed undeniable flaws in its star-studded roster.
Twelve months later, another pre-All-Star-break tailspin has struck the now defending champions.
The Dodgers have lost six games in a row, swept in back-to-back series by the Houston Astros and the Milwaukee Brewers. Their romp through June and the first days of July (when they won 20 times in a 30-game stretch) has been stalled by sudden regression lately, with lackluster offense and a worn-down pitching staff contributing to the organization’s longest losing streak since April 2019.
“I think it is under the ‘it’s just baseball’ type thing,” Roberts said Wednesday after the Dodgers’ most deflating loss of their skid yet. “You never like to lose six in a row. It seems like we’re pitching OK. The defense at times has been really good. It’s just that right now we’re scuffling offensively, to have that big inning or to build an inning and get that big hit.”
But, also like back then, frustration is mounting as the Dodgers approach the trade deadline.
The Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim looks up while swinging a bat during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday in Milwaukee.
(Aaron Gash / Associated Press)
“We can’t really feel sorry about ourselves, because there’s a lot of season left, and we know what we’re looking for,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said. “We’re looking to win another championship, and playing this kind of baseball is not gonna get us there.”
By “this kind of baseball,” Rojas means this kind of offense.
During the last week, a Dodgers lineup that leads the majors in scoring on the season has suddenly scored the second-fewest runs (10 total, and more than two in just one of their last six contests) of the league’s 30 teams. In that time, they are batting a paltry .190 with only four home runs, a whopping 61 strikeouts and an on-base percentage of .269.
The root causes of that malaise are easy to identify: The Dodgers have been without several key regulars (Muncy, Teoscar Hernández and, until Wednesday, Tommy Edman) in their starting lineup. Their three healthy superstars (Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman) are hitting a combined .194. Their depth options have offered little reprieve (Michael Conforto, Hyeseong Kim and James Outman have gone five for 38 while receiving increased playing time).
And, they’ve run into two talented pitching staffs, struggling against quality opposing starters such as Framber Valdez, Freddy Peralta and rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski, and two hard-throwing bullpens from the Astros and Brewers.
Granted, even $400-million payrolls like the Dodgers go through such dips in a season. And while the losses have piled up, the team has maintained the best record in the National League (56-38) and a five-game edge in their division.
“We’ve just got to put some at-bats together, keep playing good defense and it’ll turn,” Roberts promised. “When you’re mired in it, it’s frustrating. But we still have some pretty good players.”
The concern, however, is how quickly the offense has turned in the absence of a few key players.
Freeman and Betts were both slumping in June, but the contributions of Muncy and All-Star catcher Will Smith (the only regular who has also stayed hot during this current losing spell) helped compensate. Ohtani’s numbers at the plate have declined since he returned to pitching, but balance at the bottom of the lineup from younger bats like Kim and Andy Pages made such struggles feel moot.
This week, conversely, has highlighted what can happen when the Dodgers face good pitching at anything less than full strength –– the kind of confluence of events that could quickly derail any postseason campaign if it were to happen again in October.
“You can’t replace All-Stars. You can’t replace guys that have won MVPs in the postseason. You can’t replace those type of things,” Betts said this week. “The next man has to step up and do what he can do. But I mean, you can’t replace those guys. You can only have someone come step up and do their best.”
The good news is, Edman has already returned from a broken pinky toe. Hernández is expected back in the lineup Friday from a foot contusion. And, although Muncy’s knee injury is longer-term, he is expected to return this season.
“It’s one of those things,” Roberts said, “where we’ve got to find a way to weather it.”
Still, the questions this week has raised will loom even if the Dodgers start to heat up again (as they did last year, when they started the second half with a five-game winning streak and 26-13 run overall).
Already, the bullpen was an obvious area of need heading into the trade deadline (especially after Michael Kopech recently underwent a meniscus surgery on his right knee that forced him onto the 60-day IL). The rotation could be, too, although the Dodgers remain confident about having Tyler Glasnow (who returned to action with five solid innings Wednesday) and Blake Snell (who is beginning a minor-league rehab assignment this week) healthy for the second half.
Now, the club will have to decide whether it needs another impact bat as well, potentially adding to a shopping list that has grown much longer than the team had expected after another big offseason of lavish spending.
After all, Freeman and Betts have yet to show signs of life amid career-worst slumps. Ohtani’s workload won’t get any easier as he continues to ramp up on the mound. And there’s no guarantee how Muncy will look once he returns, with Roberts noting his bone bruise will probably linger into next year.
It all leaves the Dodgers in a familiar position: Hopeful its talented, but hardly infallible, roster possesses enough firepower to win another World Series, but knowing that — like last year, when the team acquired Edman, Kopech and starter Jack Flaherty at the deadline — more reinforcements might nonetheless be needed.
“We have to do better,” Rojas said, voicing a recognition that has reverberated throughout the clubhouse of late, as the front office evaluates its options ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. “We gotta find ways to be a complete team that we know we can be.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts quipped before the game that the 35-year-old veteran first baseman had begun to understand the value of an off day as he’s dealt with discomfort in his ankle this season.
But with the go-ahead run on second base in the eighth inning, Roberts summoned Freeman off the bench. Was it time for another magical, Freddie Freeman moment at Chavez Ravine?
Not so fast. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza called for an intentional walk, and up walked Michael Conforto. The 46,364 fans at Dodger Stadium already booed the struggling outfielder after his third-inning strikeout. Hitting .165 entering the game, he was one of the unlikeliest to lead the Dodgers to a comeback victory. He’d yet to come through.
But all Conforto needed was one hit, one chance. And he delivered.
Against Mets setup man Reed Garrett, Conforto ripped a go-ahead RBI single into left field, helping the Dodgers complete a three-run comeback to defeat the Mets 6-5 and salvage a series split against a potential NL playoff opponent.
“It’s been a grind up to this point,” Conforto said. “All I want to do is go up there and help us win. A lot of those situations I’ve come up short, so to come through today was everything.”
Closer Tanner Scott earned his first save since May 21 with a shutdown ninth inning, his second scoreless outing in a row.
Conforto’s first hit with runners in scoring position since March 31 — and his first hit this season with runners in scoring position with two outs — put the Dodgers (38-25) two games ahead of the Padres in the NL West after their 3-2 loss to the Giants on Thursday.
In recent weeks, the Dodgers clubhouse showed support to Conforto during his slump. Mookie Betts said that Conforto’s struggles were also the team’s.
“These guys have been awesome,” Conforto said of his teammates. “You spend more time with these guys than your actual family, so they’ve been part of my family. Just trying to keep me smiling, keep me laughing, so it’s been great to have their support.”
Before Conforto’s go-ahead single, Will Smith doubled home Betts, who reached on a walk. Andy Pages scraped a ball off the ground — causing havoc in the Mets’ infield and a throwing error from Brett Baty — allowing Smith to score.
For manager Dave Roberts, rallies such as Thursday’s show the might of his ballclub, he said.
“Reed Garrett’s obviously had a great year up to this point,” Roberts said. “They got a good pen. They pitch well. But the free passes, like you guys saw today, when you give teams free passes, innings are built and runs are created.”
Mets left-hander David Peterson had made things difficult before the eighth. He struck out six and gave up three runs across seven innings.
Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack reacts after giving up a home run to New York Mets outfielder Starling Marte, left, in the third inning Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The longevity the Mets (39-24) got from Peterson, however, was the opposite of what the Dodgers received from right-hander Landon Knack.
Knack had turned a corner across his last two outings. Against both New York teams, he twirled a career-high-tying six innings and gave up just one earned run in each start. Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior paid close attention to Knack’s adjustments, praising his rise from early-season appearances in which he was bounced from games, giving up five runs against the Nationals and Athletics.
“His ability is to be able to throw multiple pitches in any count, in any situation, and that was a little bit off early on,” Prior said, “but now I think he’s starting to finally get into the groove and kind of get back to where he was throwing the ball last year.”
Prior noted what Knack could do when he’s on — mixing pitches and speeds, making for off-balance at-bats. But he also explained what happens when Knack is off — leaving pitches in the middle zone, while falling behind in counts.
Pete Alonso slides past Dodgers catcher Will Smith to score a run for the Mets in the third inning Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Knack was at his least effective Thursday. He gave up four runs — including three home runs — leaving fastballs over the plate to Pete Alonso and Starling Marte in the first and third innings. He also walked five across 3 ⅓ innings.
“Today [my mechanics] just got a little bit out of whack there for a minute, but I think I have made too much talk on just kind of like trying — we’re getting close, we’re feeling this, feeling that — and I think it’s time to just do it,” Knack said. “To stop talking about it and just go out there and do it.”
Roberts had to lean on his bullpen. Jack Dreyer took the ball through the middle of the fifth and José Ureña — who signed with the Dodgers on Tuesday — pitched 2 ⅓ innings to help save bullpen arms ahead of a six-game trip starting Friday in St. Louis.
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski will start for the Dodgers on Friday after being recalled from triple-A Oklahoma City, Roberts said. Wrobleski gave up five runs in four innings during his last triple-A appearance.
Dodgers pitcher Tanner Scott, right, celebrates with Will Smith after closing out a 6-5 win over the Mets on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Etc.
Roberts said right-handed relief pitchers Kirby Yates (right hamstring strain) and Michael Kopech (right shoulder impingement) have a “good possibility” of being activated off the injured list during the weekend series in St. Louis.
Likely candidates to be removed from the 26-man roster over the next few days are Ryan Loutos (five earned runs in three innings with the Dodgers) — who gave up a three-run home run in Wednesday’s 6-1 loss to the Mets — and Ureña.
Outfielders James Outman and Esteury Ruiz both had lockers in the Dodgers clubhouse Thursday. Roberts said the duo were on the taxi squad — as insurance for Hyeseong Kim and Tommy Edman — and would likely be headed back to triple-A later in the day.
Roberts gave clean bills of health to Edman (right ankle) and Kim (fouled a ball off his foot). Edman returned to the Dodgers’ lineup after two days off and hit sixth at second base.
“Looks like we’re out of the clear with those two active guys,” Roberts said.
It was a statement, a reminder and a warning all wrapped into one.
The Dodgers might not have been playing their best baseball entering this weekend’s World Series rematch against the New York Yankees.
But in a ceaseless offensive onslaught in the opening two innings on Saturday, things seemed to suddenly, profoundly and perhaps permanently change.
The Dodgers didn’t just beat the Yankees in a nationally televised late-afternoon contest to clinch a weekend series win at Dodger Stadium. They executed a slaughter in broad daylight. Four runs scored in the first inning. Six more came around in the second. And by the end, their 18-2 victory did more than set up the chance for a sweep in Sunday’s series finale.
It sent a shot across the bow to the rest of the baseball world, signifying that for all the Dodgers’ shortcomings of late, they might finally be clicking into top gear.
Granted, the Dodgers haven’t exactly been struggling to hit the ball. Entering Saturday, they were second in the majors in runs scored, second in OPS and first in batting average. They had been getting monster production from Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith. And, largely on the strength of their lineup, they were leading the National League West, still on a near 100-win pace in their pursuit of a second consecutive World Series title.
Still, over much of the last month, it had felt as if something was missing.
The team’s injury-ravaged pitching staff had put a strain on their recent play, leading to an 11-12 slide entering this weekend’s marquee Yankees matchup.
And their offense was picking up only so much of the slack, weighed down by early slumps from Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Michael Conforto, as well as inconsistent performances from other bottom-half hitters.
Michael Conforto, left, celebrates with Hyeseong Kim after scoring on an RBI double by Tommy Edman in the second inning Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
It led to a malaise epitomized by a lack of signature moments. Not since knocking off the Detroit Tigers at the start of the regular season had the Dodgers won a series against a legitimate title contender. They were just 10-9 overall against opponents with winning records.
Manager Dave Roberts downplayed that notion Friday.
“We know that we have a good ballclub, and I don’t think that us not winning series against X amount of teams with winning records is an indictment on our ballclub,” he said. “I don’t think we’re thinking too much about that.”
Then again, with the Yankees coming to town as winners of 16 of their previous 20 games, this still felt like something of a litmus test — even if Betts was out with a fractured toe and the pitching staff remained far less than full strength.
“We try to win each and every game, of course,” Ohtani said in Japanese on Friday night, “but I think it’s a special atmosphere.”
Two games in, it has produced a couple of special results.
After coming from behind to steal Friday night’s opener, the Dodgers (36-22) wasted no time Saturday putting their foot firmly on the Yankees’ neck.
In the bottom of the first, Ohtani, Freeman, Smith and Muncy all singled within the first five at-bats against rookie Yankees starter Will Warren, scoring two runs. Conforto later added a sacrifice fly, before Tommy Edman hit a hard ground ball that got past third baseman (and former Dodgers farmhand) Jorbit Vivas for a run-scoring double, punctuating an inning in which the Dodgers batted around.
In the second, the Dodgers sent all nine batters to the plate again. After walks from Hernández and Freeman, Muncy hit a three-run homer to right, chasing Warren from the game with his 200th career long ball. Edman doubled home another run with two outs. Then Hyeseong Kim got the Dodgers to double digits, hitting his second home run of the season
Max Muncy hits a three-run home run in the second inning for the Dodgers on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
By the time the Yankees (35-22) recorded their first hit on Austin Wells’ leadoff single in the third, it was already 10-0.
As starting pitcher Landon Knack cruised through six strong innings with the big lead — he gave up his lone run on a fourth-inning solo blast from Aaron Judge, his first of two long balls on the day — the Dodgers kept adding on.
In the fifth, Freeman plated a run with his 525th career double, tying Willie Mays and Ted Williams for 46th most all-time.
Then, Muncy went deep again, continuing his recent surge by belting another three-run homer high off the right-field foul pole, tying a career-high with seven RBIs on the day.
Over his last 19 games, Muncy is now batting .300 with five home runs, 24 RBIs and a .991 OPS.
And he isn’t the only Dodgers hitter heating up. Edman snapped a recent cold streak with three hits. Kim also had three hits, plus two stellar defensive plays: doubling off a runner at second base with a diving effort from shortstop in the third inning, then throwing out Judge at second with a perfect throw from deep center after shifting to the outfield. Andy Pages maintained his strong form with a solo home run in the seventh. Dalton Rushing hit his first career home run in the eighth.
The Dodgers’ biggest stars, meanwhile, have continued to dominate.
Ohtani, coming off his second live batting practice as a pitcher before the game (he threw 29 pitches over two simulated innings), had two hits, moving his OPS to 1.062.
In the National League, only Freeman has a better mark in that category, finishing Saturday at 1.078 (to go along with his NL-leading .374 batting average) after his own two-hit showing.
Couple all that with the impending returns of pitchers such as Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates and Blake Treinen — all of whom could be back within the next month or two, and in some cases sooner — and the Dodgers are starting to look more like the juggernaut they were supposed to be all along.
On Sunday, Taylor was designated for assignment by the Dodgers after a 10-year tenure with the club, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
In corresponding roster moves, the Dodgers activated Tommy Edman from the injured list and added pitcher Lou Trivino to the 40-man roster. Trivino was in Los Angeles on Sunday — occupying the same locker stall Taylor used to — after fellow reliever Kirby Yates suffered a hamstring injury Saturday night.
Taylor was in the last season of a four-year, $60-million contract with the Dodgers. The former All-Star was the longest-tenured position player on the roster, after the Dodgers designated Austin Barnes for assignment last week. But, just like with Barnes, Taylor’s declining production coupled with the emergence of rookie utilityman Hyeseong Kim left the 34-year-old expendable.
Thus, for the second time in the last week, the Dodgers parted ways with one of the most familiar faces of the team.
