Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Shohei Ohtani are Seriously Struggling Right Now.
The Los Angeles Dodgers lost 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday and wasted another superb start from ace Tyler Glasnow. The reason? Suddenly the Dodgers can’t seem to step up in clutch situations.
Over their past 18 games, the Dodgers have gone 9-9 while batting .184 (27 for 147) with runners in scoring position. They have averaged 3.39 runs per game during that stretch.
However, the struggles start at the top with Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. Both stars have slowed down from the scorching-hot pace they were maintaining until just two weeks ago. Since May 16, Betts is batting .219 (14-for-64) and has scored just six runs and driven in four in 16 games. Over that same stretch, Ohtani is batting .197 (12-for-61).
Manager Dave Roberts used an interesting analogy to describe the struggles because as those two go, the rest of the lineup follows.
“Sometimes you can point to Mookie as the straw that stirs the drink. And also Shohei when he’s going well, it seems like our offense takes off,” Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group. “Those two guys at the top are a big part of what we do. They’re just kind of not where they need to be right now.”
The Dodgers have not scored with Glasnow on the mound since his May 4 game against the Atlanta Braves. This was the fifth consecutive Glasnow start in which the Dodgers couldn’t provide any run support. Los Angeles went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
You get a guy on second base a couple times and we couldn’t move him over to create that run-scoring situation,” Roberts said. “When you’re playing in tight ballgames, those things come to light.”
The company line from the Dodgers has been nonchalant. Just Tuesday, outfielder Teoscar Hernandez summed it up with two words: “it’s baseball.”
The season is long but at some point, this team needs to take it upon itself to create runs. Whatever they are doing now isn’t working. The Dodgers play two more games in Pittsburgh before visiting the New York Yankees for three games.
