The Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t lived up to expectations in the early going, compiling a 2-5 record through the first week of play. Attributing to the disappointing start is the club’s struggles at the plate — specifically against off-speed pitches.
Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers find themselves placed in the bottom third of nearly every major statistical category, including batting average, on-base plus slugging percentage and extra-base hits.
But the team’s pitching staff has picked up where they left off from last season. As a group, the Dodgers rank third in ERA (2.58) and sixth in FIP (3.37) and FanGraphs’ WAR (1.0).
Utility man Kiké Hernandez is aware of this trend and believes the offense must step up, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“We’re not getting it done right now,” Hernandez said. “The pitchers are busting their [butts], and we’re not picking them up.”
Hernandez is correct in that the Dodgers’ pitching staff has been on the short end of the stick thus far. Alex Wood, for example, has contributed two quality starts to begin his 2018 campaign but doesn’t have a win to show for it.
The left-hander allowed three earned runs over six innings in his most recent outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he called it “more of a battle” when compared to his Opening Day start.
Chris Taylor agreed with Hernandez in that the offense needs to provide more of a spark at the plate to make it easier on the pitching staff:
“There has to be a sense of urgency,” Taylor said. “We understand, our offense the way it’s been, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to find ways to get guys on base and have good at-bats.”
The Dodgers look to get back into the win column on Friday, when they begin a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park for the first time this season.
