After showing a little life with a win in Saturday’s middle game, the Los Angeles Dodgers had absolutely nothing to offer the Cincinnati Reds in Sunday’s finale, falling 9-0 and losing the series two games to one.
The victory moved the Reds into first place in a highly competitive NL Central, while the Dodgers still hold a slim lead over division rival San Francisco for top spot in the NL West.
The Dodgers mustered six hits on Sunday, all singles. Aside from Freddie Freeman’s 2-for-3 day, there really wasn’t much to write home about offensively. To make matters worse, Los Angeles designated hitter J.D. Martinez left the game in the second inning with a hamstring injury.
Additionally, catcher Will Smith was pulled in the third inning with a bruised left elbow after getting hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first. X-rays on Smith’s elbow later came back negative, indicating he should be ready to go for the upcoming series opener against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.
Young righty Michael Grove started the game for the Dodgers and braved six full innings after falling victim to a sizzling Cincinnati offense. Grove gave up eight earned runs on 10 hits — three of which were long balls — while striking out 10 batters. The youngster’s ERA rose to 6.75, rivaling newcomer Lance Lynn’s 6.47 mark for worst among starting pitchers on the club.
Rookie sensation Elly De La Cruz led the way offensively for the Reds, going 4-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored. Righty Graham Ashcraft picked up his sixth victory of the year for Cincinnati, throwing six shutout frames and scattering five hits while striking out two Los Angeles batters.
Despite maintaining the divisional lead, the Dodgers have lost five of their last seven games. There have been plenty of personnel changes over the last week as the summer trade deadline nears, but the general feeling is that front-office boss Andrew Friedman is filling holes with veteran players rather than making any significant upgrades in talent.
Fans were overwhelmed in excitement when Friedman brought Enrique Hernandez back to the team, perhaps unaware of his .599 OPS on the season, which incidentally was 30 points less than the .627 OPS of the recently demoted Miguel Rojas. Hernandez also committed 14 errors for Boston at shortstop before his departure, tops among American League players at that position.
Joe Kelly came in with a 4.97 ERA, a 1.310 WHIP and a 3.25 FIP, numbers that aren’t much better than many of the current relievers. And that’s not even mentioning that new utility man Amed Rosario’s defensive metrics were among the worst in the American League.
For all we know, these moves could be a precursor to something bigger, but we may have to wait until the waning moments of the deadline on Tuesday to find out.
In the meantime, the club gets ready to host Oakland for a three-game set after an off day on Monday. Lining up for the Dodgers are Lynn, Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urias.
Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to throw to hitters in a simulated game again on Thursday.