ST. LOUIS –– Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he had a “good feeling” about his slumping offense at the start of a six-game road trip Friday afternoon.
“The road, ironically, has been better for us,” he insisted.
By the end of the night, however, that theory couldn’t have felt less true.
En route to losing three straight games for the first time this year, the Dodgers star-studded lineup remained ice cold in a 7-2 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, managing just seven hits against a Cardinals pitching staff with the fifth-worst team ERA in the majors.
For a fourth-straight game, the Dodgers (20-12) failed to hit a home run, the longest homer drought for the club since June 2023. And the few times they did get runners aboard, they couldn’t capitalize, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position while leaving eight men stranded on base.
“I don’t have an answer for tonight,” Roberts said. “Obviously, they got big hits. There were some line drives that were right at guys. But in total, they swung the bat better than we did. We didn’t play well enough.”
It didn’t help that, early on Friday, the Cardinals (19-13) jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead against Emmet Sheehan.
Still, for a Dodgers team that has invested more than $1 billion into its batting order in recent years, this recent slump is starting to grow maddening.
They initially got on the board Friday via a Max Muncy RBI double in the second. But after that, they scored just one more time, failed to record another extra-base hit until Hyeseong Kim’s double with two outs in the ninth, and slipped to 5-8 in their last 13 games –– having scored four runs or fewer eight times in that stretch.
“It’s been hard,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Obviously, we don’t want to start the season the way we have started. But we have done a lot of work. Everybody knows this is not easy, hitting, being consistent. We just have to go up there trying to have good at-bats. Create situations. Put the ball in play. Get on base.”
Lately, they’ve failed to do all of the above, enduring another night in which there were few good feelings.
What it means
As part of his optimistic pregame message, Roberts said he wanted his hitters to be “really locking in on our zones, having a plan, and then going and executing.”
Instead, another listless night followed.
The most glaring problem of late has been the club’s lack of power. In the season’s first 22 games, they belted 42 home runs with a .507 team slugging percentage (both best in the majors up to that point). Since then, however, they have only three long balls and a .306 slugging percentage in their last 10 games (worst in the majors over that span).
“I think that there’s some pitches that we’re getting that we’re missing,” Roberts said. “I think the intent is still to hit the ball hard, take good at-bats.”
Roberts noted that there still needs “to be a balance of slug (with) base hits and all that stuff.”
Still, for a lineup built on star power, an inability to hit for power has come as a surprise.
“I think right now, certain guys, a lot of guys, are trying to find their swing,” Roberts said. “They’re just not too comfortable.
Who’s hot
Anyone who gets to pitch against the Dodgers right now, including even Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore.
Entering Friday, he had a 4.75 ERA and was coming off a five-run clunker to the light-hitting Seattle Mariners offense. But against the Dodgers, he cruised right along, navigating traffic en route to a 5 ⅔-inning, two-run start.
After Muncy’s double in the second, the Dodgers came up empty in a two-on, no-out opportunity in the third, when Kyle Tucker lined out and Andy Pages hit into an inning-ending double-play. In the sixth, the bases were loaded with one out, but a sacrifice fly from Tucker was all the Dodgers could produce.
By the end of the night, Shohei Ohtani was 0-for-5, Freddie Freeman was the team’s only batter with multiple hits, and the club had been held to five total runs during this three-game losing skid.
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Who’s not
A couple starts ago, Emmet Sheehan thought his fastball velocity troubles were behind him. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse.
On Friday, the right-hander averaged a season-low 93.4 mph with his four-seamer –– including a 92.9 mph heater in the first inning that Nolan Gorman hit for a two-run homer, and another at 89.7 mph in the fourth that marked the slowest fastball of his MLB career.
It didn’t prevent him from still striking out eight batters in his 4 ⅔-inning, four-run start. But it wasn’t his only issue either, not on a night he balked in a run (when he made a mental mistake by forgetting to signal to the umpires he was pitching out of the stretch) and gave up another solo home on a low slider to Alex Burleson in the third.
With the Dodgers facing a key rotation decision as Blake Snell nears his return, Sheehan’s lack of velocity (he averaged 95.6 mph with his fastball last year) will nonetheless remain a concern, especially with his overall ERA still up at 5.23.
“There’s nothing I can point to to say, this is the reason,” said Sheehan, who reiterated that he’s 100% healthy and instead working through mechanical flaws. “We’re working really hard on it. We’re going to continue to work really hard on it. That’s all we can do.”
Up next
Like Sheehan, fellow right-hander Roki Sasaki is fighting to keep his rotation spot at the moment. He’ll take the mound Saturday, trying to improve his 1-2 record and 6.35 ERA. Michael McGreevy (1-2, 2.97 ERA) goes for St. Louis.
