‘Couldn’t deliver.’ How Dodgers’ lacking lineup depth was exposed in loss to Braves
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ATLANTA — The Dodgers had the right runner on base, but the wrong matchups at the plate.
And, in a sign of what’s perhaps been their biggest roster vulnerability early on this season, manager Dave Roberts had no way to alter the situation.
After trailing by four runs to the Atlanta Braves early on Sunday night, the Dodgers positioned themselves for a potential comeback in the top of the ninth.
With the deficit down to one, Andy Pages stayed alive in a two-strike count for a leadoff infield single. Rookie speedster Hyeseong Kim then entered the game as a pinch-runner and wreaked instant havoc on the bases, stealing second off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias before daringly dashing to third when a dropped third strike was being thrown to first.
Dustin May struggles to find consistent command with his breaking ball, and Atlanta’s Austin Riley makes him pay as the Dodgers’ seven-game winning streak ends.
“That was great,” Roberts said of Kim’s speed on the bases. “That was exciting.”
In a 4-3 loss to the Braves, however, the Dodgers left him stranded 90 feet away.
Infielder Miguel Rojas came up and fanned on three straight changeups. In the next at-bat, backup catcher Austin Barnes chased a two-strike slider that was down and off the plate, ending the game with a strikeout as Shohei Ohtani loomed on deck.
It was a reminder that, for all the strengths the Dodgers have built with their $400-million payroll this year, the depth of their offense has thus far been a weakness.
Which is why, in the two most important at-bats of Sunday night’s game, Roberts had no other choice than to let Rojas and Barnes — in right-on-right matchups that were always unlikely to be successful — step up to the plate.
“We put ourselves in a great position,” Rojas said. “Kim did an amazing job coming off the bench, stealing that bag. And I couldn’t deliver.”
On the whole this season, the Dodgers’ lineup balance hasn’t been much of a problem. The superstars at the top of their order have gradually heated up after relatively slow starts. An offense that slumped through much of April now ranks third in the majors in scoring.
Still, the bottom half of the team’s batting order hasn’t been productive. Entering Monday, the team still had four hitters batting .200 or worse. Six were stuck with an OPS below .700. Even with recent improvements from the likes of Pages and Max Muncy, the club’s .211 batting average and .647 OPS from the Nos. 6-9 spots in the order ranked in the bottom third of the majors. And though they are seven-for-16 in pinch-hit situations, none of those knocks have come from a lefty.
The Los Angeles Dodgers actually have one of the best records in baseball, but no one seems to be too thrilled by it. Injuries, question marks and hitters not hitting are issues.
In the big picture, it’s a problem the Dodgers will have to monitor this year.
Down the stretch of Sunday, they saw just how costly it could be.
Roberts first had to dip into his bench in the seventh inning, pinch-hitting Rojas for Michael Conforto as the Braves brought left-handed reliever Dylan Lee into the game.
Hitting for Conforto, the $17-million offseason signing the Dodgers were anticipating a bounceback season from, is something Roberts acknowledged he didn’t expect to do much this year. But after opening the season with a six-game hitting streak, the veteran slugger has been frozen in the deepest of slumps.
Since April 4, Conforto is batting a stunning .088, with as many hits (six, all singles) as double-play grounders. His two strikeouts earlier Sunday — both looking, a strangely common occurrence for him early this year — left him 0 for his last 29.
“He’s grinding,” Roberts said. “I just felt that Miggy had a better chance in that moment.”
That move worked, with Rojas capitalizing on the right-left advantage for his first home run of the season; and second pinch-hit homer from any Dodger this year.
But when Rojas’ spot came back up in a far less advantageous matchup against Iglesias in the ninth, Roberts had no more cards to play.
Entering the ninth, Roberts had one primary goal: Get starting catcher Will Smith, who was getting a scheduled day out of the starting lineup Sunday, to the plate with a chance to have an impact on the game.
After Pages’ leadoff single, Roberts pulled the trigger. Rather than wait for Barnes’ turn to come up later in the inning, he pinch-hit Smith for Kiké Hernández with one out.
Smith ultimately struck out, but not before Kim — who was called up for his MLB debut the previous day after signing out of South Korea this offseason — had scooted to the other corner of the diamond with his steal of second base and aggressive break for third.
“That’s an instinctual play,” Roberts said, praising Kim for reading catcher Drake Baldwin’s soft throw to first on a dropped third-strike that nearly changed the game.
“For him to get the jump that he did and then to get over there to third base … that just shows that he’s got really good instincts.”
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they couldn’t advance him all the way home.
As Rojas and Barnes came up, the only player left on the team’s bench was Chris Taylor, another right-handed hitter who has taken a grand total of 20 at-bats all season.
Roberts considered calling for a squeeze bunt from Rojas, but was wary of the Braves infield playing in.
Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages talk almost daily in their shared corner of the clubhouse. They’ll watch one another during batting practice, and coordinate in outfielders’ meetings.
“I just thought that Miguel could put the ball in play and give us a chance to tie the game up,” Roberts said.
He couldn’t. Neither could Barnes. And as the game ended, the Dodgers’ offensive depth concerns became all the more clear.
Most nights, of course, this is all unlikely to matter. But on any given night, it could.
That’s why, as the Dodgers take stock of the first part of this season, lineup depth remains a primary concern. On Sunday, it cost them an opportunity to steal a win from the Braves.
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