Underperforming Dodgers drop key series to Brewers: ‘Just not winning baseball’

Economy World


LOS ANGELES — Tarik Skubal was angry as he walked off the mound after the top of the fifth inning.

The Milwaukee Brewers, known for their pesky and patient approach in two-strike situations, got to him. Skubal induced two quick outs in the top of the fifth before Jackson Chourio roped a double to right on a full-count fastball. The next batter, Jake Bauers, singled off Skubal to score the go-ahead run — again on a two-strike pitch — this time a changeup.

When Skubal got out of the inning, his pitch count had climbed to 95. He turned his face to his glove and yelled — the first sign of frustration he’s shown as a Dodger. This type of inefficiency does not fly for the reigning two-time American League Cy Young winner. So when manager Dave Roberts turned to Skubal and asked if he had one more inning in him — despite Skubal having not thrown more than 100 pitches in a game this season — Skubal didn’t hesitate.

He went back out for the sixth and promptly struck out the side. He threw his two hardest pitches of the day in that frame — a 99.2 mph fastball to strike out Joey Ortiz, and a 99.3 mph sinker which Jonathan Ornelas fouled off. Skubal finished his outing allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts.

He set a career high with 109 pitches, and he was saddled with the loss after yet another deflating performance by the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 6-2 defeat. They were carved up by rookie Logan Henderson — whom the Brewers were adamant about not trading in the Skubal sweepstakes — with the right-hander scattering a run and three hits over seven innings.

“I was just frustrated with the pitch count through five,” Skubal said. “Just need to be more efficient. I’m glad Doc gave me an opportunity to go back out there for the sixth.

“I’m not going to be perfect out there, but yeah, I need to be more efficient,” he added. “That’s the standard that I hold myself to, is pitching deeper into ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”

Skubal’s first three starts as a Dodger have been decent. He has yet to allow more than three runs, and the Dodgers have had a chance to win each time. But Skubal does not settle for satisfactory, nor should he given his pedigree. His early tenure has left things to be desired, and he’s aware of that.

“It’s not acceptable,” he said, referring to his inefficiency. “It’s not the standard of what I think I’m capable of in this league. So, I just need to be better.”

Some run support would help. Skubal is hardly the reason the scuffling Dodgers have disappointed lately. A taxed bullpen (made worse by Edwin Díaz’s struggles), uncharacteristically shoddy defense (Los Angeles’ 25 errors since July 7 are the third most in MLB), and lifeless offense (the Dodgers scored 10 runs in the four-game series) have contributed to their recent plight.

After Sunday’s loss, Roberts didn’t hold back in his assessment.

“This has been four, five, six weeks of below-average production from our offense. It’s the truth,” the clearly disgruntled manager said. “I just think that we haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense.

“Just not winning baseball. Our pedigree, what we typically do, is control the zone, grind at-bats, create stress. We’re not doing that.”

One player who exemplifies that is Kyle Tucker, whose drastic home-and-road splits are among the worst in the league — so much so that Roberts opted to sit him for Saturday’s game against NL Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski. Tucker went 0-for-19 on the homestand and dropped a fly ball at the warning track in the ninth inning on Sunday, which led to two more runs for Milwaukee.

Tucker was not available for comment after the game.

But Tucker is far from the only underperforming Dodger. It falls on the lineup as a whole. Since July 31, the Dodgers have scored 54 runs in 16 games. They’ve scored three or fewer runs in half of those contests and are 5-11 overall.

“We haven’t been good,” said Max Muncy, who homered Sunday and has been the most consistent bat this month. “It’s one of those stretches. We need urgency. We need to fix some things. But ultimately, it still is baseball. Things like this are going to happen. We very easily could win the next two weeks in a row, and this gets put in the rearview mirror.”

But the Dodgers can’t ignore the magnitude of this series. While it’s often hyperbolic to discuss playoff implications in mid-August, Los Angeles whiffed on an opportunity to gain ground in the National League standings, and Sunday’s loss clinched the season series for Milwaukee. That could come into play for playoff seeding, as the Brewers now own the tiebreaker.

“I really wanted to win this game, because it could matter,” Roberts said. “But we didn’t. So now, we have to move forward. But I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.”

“Today really sucked,” Muncy agreed. “It was a big game. We kind of needed to win this one, and we didn’t.”

The Dodgers’ status as back-to-back world champions and their lineup of superstars buy them more patience than any other club during stretches like these. Still, they know it’s time to come out of a concerning skid. They hope to get their bats right (and perhaps be aided by the elements) during their next three games at Coors Field.

That starts with quality of at-bats and a recommitment to the little things.

“I don’t think (this) is who we are,” Roberts said. “I think we’ve done it long enough individually and collectively. But I do think that just saying you’re going to come out of it is not the right way to look at it. I think coming out of it is by how you go about it, and that’s by winning a 1-1 pitch, winning a 3-2 pitch and taking a walk. Earning good counts and taking advantage of mistakes. That’s how you get out.”

“Things in baseball can kind of snowball on you, and that might be what’s happening right now,” Muncy added. “But it just takes a good game here or there to get out of that funk, and that’s kind of what we need.”