CHICAGO –– For most of this season, Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski has been surpassing expectations.
The last two weeks, however, he has succumbed to some ugly franchise history in his first real slump all year.
In a 10-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday that tied a season-long four-game losing streak for the Dodgers, Wrobleski encountered a suddenly familiar problem.
For a second-straight start, he couldn’t keep the ball in the yard.
Last week, the third-year left-hander was tagged with four home runs in a six-inning, five-run start against the Seattle Mariners, yet came away feeling like he hadn’t pitched that poorly.
“I just think going back and looking at it, I still threw the ball pretty well,” he said. “I know that sounds crazy considering the number and the line, but for the most part I think I did an OK job of kind of the things that are in my control.”
Problem was, when he returned to the bump at Wrigley Field on Monday, Wrobleski’s long ball problems only got worse.
Once again, he surrendered four big flies in a 4 ⅓-inning, seven-run start.
And just like that, he became the first pitcher in Dodgers history to allow four homers in multiple games in the same season –– let alone in back-to-back outings just six days apart.
“I think sometimes teams are gonna have, honestly, good swings off you,” Wrobleski said. “And yeah, today that happened. But there’s no excuse. I think I need to be better than I have these past two.”
Monday’s barrage began with a first-inning blast that felt reminiscent of last week.
In a 1-1 count against Seiya Suzuki, Wrobleski climbed the ladder with a seemingly well-executed 94.6 mph fastball, the kind of pitch that has typically been an effective weapon for him this year. Only this time, Suzuki was on it, lifting a two-run shot to the left-field bleachers that left Wrobleski shaking his head.
If that was bad luck –– Wrobleski said he was “not super upset” with his execution of that throw –– then the rest of the night’s damage seemed much more self-inflicted, and raised questions about a potential underlying problems.
In the second, he missed down the middle with a two-strike fastball that Kevin Alcantara clobbered for a go-ahead two-run blast (erasing the 3-0 lead Tommy Edman had staked them to with a home run during their first trip to the plate). In the third, he hung a slider in the heart of the zone that Carson Kelly teed off on for another two-run drive.
Wrobleski’s night, and frustrations, then culminated in the fifth.
In an 0-1 count, he challenged former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch with a sinker in the zone; another go-to strategy for him this season that has often led to soft contact that keeps his pitch count under control.
Alas, Wrobleski instead got barreled up once again, with yet another home run leaving him doubled over in disbelief.
That would be his final pitch of the night. In his last two starts, his ERA has risen from 2.62 to 3.31 (his worst mark since entering the Dodgers’ rotation in early April).
“I think last week, some of [the home run pitches] were better pitches than this week,” Wrobleski said. But overall, just didn’t throw the ball well enough today, obviously. I’ve been pretty frustrated these last two.”
When pressed on Wrobleski’s struggles postgame, manager Dave Roberts argued his “stuff is really good,” and downplayed concerns about the 26-year-old approaching a career-high workload.
Instead, he said, “It just seemed like they were on everything.”
Asked if that was because of predictable game-planning, or Wrobleski potentially tipping his pitches, Roberts was unsure.
“That’s something I think we have to dig into,” he said.
“When he did make mistakes,” Roberts added, “it just seemed like they went out of the ballpark.”
Wrobleski also left the door open to the potential pitch-tipping theory, struggling to reconcile consecutive starts that have gone so wrong.
“I changed the game plan pretty significantly today, and felt like they were still on some stuff,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just need to continue working and get better. The chips will fall where they’re going to. Just keep going.”
