It was a crucial moment in a crucial game, with the Dodgers on the National League Western Conference standings becoming a crucial week.
Given the form of their recent struggles that are predictable, this means they have found a new way to mess with it all.
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The Dodgers seemed to be in their best position at the top of the second inning Wednesday night at PNC Park.
Earlier in the day, the second-place San Diego Padres were swept by Woebegone Baltimore Orioles, opening the door for the Dodgers to extend their 2.5-game lead in the division. Even though the Dodgers fell behind in the showdown against the last team, the Dodgers placed Pittsburgh's Pirates on the ropes to fill the base with the base, but had no chance to lead.
At that time, the task was very simple.
Give the ball to serve. Create some early scores. And, at least, NL West leaders can grow the nights as a positive tone.
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“In this case, the shorter your swing, using most of the field, you have to drive on the run,” said manager Dave Roberts.
However, this approach has never been implemented.
What happens next will be shrouded in a wide range of the rest of the remaining 3-0 losses against the Pirates.
First, sophomore outfielder Andy Pages appeared, taking another number of times against Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft…and then swayingly chased a slider that would be the fourth ball.
Next, rookie infielder Alex Freeland ran the Count again, raising an elevated slider in the area to hit…but he kept the bat on his shoulder as the referee acted.
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Kiké Hernández's flight will eventually end the race. However, these are the first two bats that were smoked after Roberts.
“You never want to say a win or a loss of a game,” Roberts said. “But the second round, the base loaded, no one went out-I just felt like we had two bad bats, nothing.”
“That flipped the game over,” Roberts later added. “It flipped the momentum.”
Read more: “I want to see that edge.” How the Dodgers want Teoscar Hernández to turn around in a tough season
On one night, the Dodgers (78-61) failed to score any of the 11 basemen, and did not record hits in seven batsmen, the man's scoring position was no more frustrating than the speed of the second inning.
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This is the latest epitome of the team's failure to produce in the clutch situation. Another example of some basic basics in their roster.
Roberts lamented after the office game, “We have to collectively let us all understand every bat, the size of each situation.” “I sound like it repeats [about how] It has to get better. But I do believe that taking the right approach, the right mindset, the right urgency of a particular bat can make yourself better. ”
In the second half of the season, it was a recurring theme for the Dodgers. This exquisite loss has bothered them since July 4, and it has bothered them.
Sometimes, it is their big-name superstars who are staggering. In other cases, young contributors like Pages and Freeland cannot execute when needed.
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The only constant: Every time the Dodgers seem to be turning, they find another way to trip over themselves.
“I do believe that the guys we have in the room are able to form the usual urgency team from the first game,” Roberts said. “But at the end of the day – I'm sure our players are responding to the same message – we just need to finish it.”
This week’s series at PNC Park (the Dodgers have dropped for the fourth consecutive time in the last four years), reflecting the club’s annoying current ruts in other ways.
One night, they exploded on the plate seven times…just let their pitchers give up nine, just like Tuesday’s loss.
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Next, they put a nice pitching effort (even if Shohei Ohtani was caught after his scheduled start due to illness)…just to waste every chance they had to control the game (and on the way to lose catcher Will Will Smith, who hit a bruised hand along his bruised hand, despite the pain of an unfortunate foul ball, but then struck XX rays negatively).
“It's been a while since we really put together,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We need to start playing better.”
The Pirates jumped out in the first inning Wednesday when Bryan Reynolds got home run on his 12th field for his batting shooter Emmet Sheehan. Andrew McCutchen doubled the lead in Game 2, which exacerbated the sting of the Dodgers wasted base chances and made a line-driven home run on the next hit of the game.
After that, “we can’t really put anything else together,” Roberts said.
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Or, rather, they failed to complete any other opportunities.
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The Dodgers loaded two bases again in the third inning, and then Alex Call hit a dribble and hit the side on the first base line.
The team had two runners again in fifth and seventh place, but continued to be empty every time.
“We have a lot of people, we just haven't been hit,” Freeman said, who was stuck in a double game in the fifth inning to put out the threat. “A frustrating night.”
The only relief grace at the moment is that Padres (who lost four consecutive times while dealing with a series of reduced injuries) did not lay the foundation for it.
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“I know that very well,” Roberts said. “But they feel what we feel. We have to control what we can control. We certainly are not.”
Another approach may have changed all of that in the second inning on Wednesday. Instead, it was another regrettable failure, which was transforming the potential opportunity of the division leading into one of the most frustrating losses this season.
Will Smith Update
Smith pulled out of Wednesday's game after the second inning, when the foul tip bounced off the dirt and stretched out his right hand as it hung behind the right thigh.
As Smith's X-rays returned to negative form, Roberts said the club hopes he can avoid injury list. But given his increasing swelling and soreness, the team still plans to call a third catcher on Thursday for more lineup insurance.
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The story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.