Adding Freddie Freeman to an already-talented Los Angeles Dodgers lineup further raised expectations that the team thus far has fallen short of meeting.
Although the Dodgers mounted a two-out rally on Opening Day to earn a comeback win, their bats largely went silent and the offense was inconsistent over the next two games at Coors Field — both losses.
Manager Dave Roberts pointed to their production on Opening Day as indication of what the lineup is capable of when performing at its peak.
Tuesday’s 7-2 win against the Minnesota Twins was a mixed bag of results, which prompted Roberts to admit their situational hitting remained an area where improvement must be made, via SportsNet LA:
“I think the end result, we ended up putting up a crooked number, but we need to be better situationally. That’s something that can’t get lost in the game. It was tight all the way through the seventh and I think we had opportunities to put a couple runs up there, but we didn’t cash in. We can be better and we need to be better, but to get a win was big.”
Chris Archer didn’t allow a baserunner until Gavin Lux’s double to right-center field with two outs in the third inning. Lux was stranded and so too was Freddie Freeman after he led off the fourth inning by going to the opposite field for a double of his own.
There was some production in the fifth inning when Cody Bellinger drew a one-out walk and stole second base. Chris Taylor walked as well, and combined with Bellinger to pull off a double steal. As the threat of rain loomed, Lux’s sacrifice fly gave L.A. a lead.
Taylor tripled with two outs in the seventh inning, though the game remained tied. The Dodgers managed to break through in the eighth for six runs — aided in part by Luis Arraez not playing a sound third base.
Dodgers hitting with RISP
The Dodgers went 5-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners but did combine for nine walks in the series opener at Target Field. On the season they are batting .268 with a man in scoring position, which is good for 10th-best in baseball.
However, L.A. has scored 15 of their 18 runs this season in three individual innings.
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