LOS ANGELES — Maybe the Milwaukee Brewers can take over the Lakers while they’re at it. By the looks of it, they already own the Dodgers.
Then again, the Brewers aren’t the only ones who have prospered against the defending champs in the last 2½ weeks. Los Angeles has lost 10 of 12 surrounding the All-Star break, including a 6-5 Milwaukee victory Sunday that enabled the Brewers to sweep two three-game series with the Dodgers in a two-week span.
This isn’t happenstance, either. Dave Roberts conceded Sunday afternoon that his club, now with a slim 3½-game division lead over San Diego, has maybe been hampered by a lack of focus.
For example, three fielding errors helped shorten Clayton Kershaw’s stint, and when he exited the game with two on and one out in the fifth after 81 pitches and three runs allowed (two earned), he slammed his glove on the bench, then slammed his cap before taking a seat, slumped in silent contemplation and likely still seething a bit.
“I was just frustrated with myself,” he said. “Just gave up three runs, gave up a walk, just frustrated. We’re not playing well as a team. … We’re all frustrated. Yeah. I don’t know how else to say it. We didn’t win a game. No excuses. Just play better.
“I don’t have much to say,” he said, understandably concluding the interview session quickly. “I’m going to get myself in trouble, so let’s just call it.”
Mookie Betts was equally reticent, and he was the center of the day’s biggest move, being shifted back into the leadoff role to reverse his tailspin: 0 for 12, dating back to the previous Friday (five games broken up by the All-Star break, plus a day off Saturday), and 9 for 56 going back to June 28. In that 14-game span, he was hitting .160 with an on-base percentage of .183, turning his offensive production for the season from underwhelming to sickly.
Maybe that change, dropping Shohei Ohtani back to the No. 2 spot, will eventually pay dividends. Betts, leading off for the first time since June 16 of last year – when he was hit in the hand by a pitch and was out for nearly two months – ended his hitless streak with a sharp single in the third inning. He was 1 for 5, and with the bat in his hands and a chance to tie or win with two out and the bases loaded in the ninth, he hit one on the button, 102.2 mph – right at center fielder Blake Perkins for the game’s final out.
“Another day at the park,” he said. Nothing really changed. Doesn’t matter. … I can’t speak for everyone. Just for me, I just got to play better. Just gotta figure it out.”
Roberts said before the game that “giving him a different look in the lineup, hitting him at the top, something he’s obviously been accustomed to throughout his career, will put him in a mindset of just (getting) on base, and just trying to take good at-bats, set the table for Shohei and the guys behind them.”
Ohtani has had his own struggles at the plate since resuming pitching duties June 16: .213 (22 for 113), with nine homers and 22 RBI overall, and .250 (5 for 20, one homer and seven RBI) on the days he actually pitches. He slugged a two-run homer into the Dodgers’ bullpen in the second Sunday in a 1 for 3 day, on the eve of his next start Monday against Minnesota.
Oh, and that wasn’t all of the day’s news. Freddie Freeman took a Jose Quintana pitch on the left wrist in the sixth inning, and rather than walking to first, he headed directly toward the home dugout. The diagnosis, as later announced by the Dodgers’ public relations department: A wrist contusion, day to day, which suggests it’s not as bad as feared.
But stay tuned.
“I held my breath; I think we all did,” Roberts said, noting that when Freeman – who usually battles to stay in a game – was instead leaving the field, “it was really worrying.”
Should Freeman miss time, which is rare, Roberts said rookie catcher Dalton Rushing would be next in line at first base.
“When you’re scuffling, to potentially lose a guy for four to six weeks is obviously very scary,” Roberts said.
Scuffling? That’s putting it mildly. For a good portion of the last two weeks, the Dodgers were having immense difficulty scoring runs. The last two games they’ve scored seven and five, and what has it gotten them? Two one-run losses.
On Sunday, part of the responsibility rested with the defense. There were two errors in the fourth: Tommy Edman made a diving stop of Blake Perkins’ grounder, but his throw got away from Freeman and Edman was charged with the error as a run scored. Later in the inning, Andy Pages misplayed Joey Ortiz’s 108.7 mph drive to center as another run scored. And in the fifth, left fielder Esteury Ruiz botched Andrew Vaughn’s single in the fifth to allow William Contreras to take an extra base. That turned out to be Kershaw’s last hitter, and Alex Vesia got out of the jam without a run scoring.
“Things aren’t going well, but you also have to make your own breaks,” Roberts said. “And when things are tough, you can’t do things to sabotage yourself. Today specifically, it was the defense.”
And he added this:
“The plays that I’ve seen, I think are lack of focus. That’s what I feel. The Tommy play, that’s just a tough play, to get to the ball, to turn, fire and do it across the diamond … Tommy made a good play. But the fly ball, the grounder, those things just can’t happen. Recently, we’re seeing that more and more. And like I said, that shouldn’t happen with our club.”
Yes, it’s a long season, and there are certainly occasions when things get a little sloppy. But it should be a warning sign that what was a nine-game division lead on July 3 is now 3½ games a little more than two weeks later, and could be even slimmer had the Padres and Giants taken care of all of the chances they’ve had to gain ground.
If the Dodgers are as good as we think, it’s time to start showing it. But at least the Brewers are out of their hair for a while.
jalexander@scng.com