Last season the Los Angeles Dodgers were a respectable 7-5 in one-run games, but they have won just seven of 20 such contests so far this year. Their latest one-run loss came on a night that saw the St. Louis Cardinals turn in multiple web gems to thwart a Dodgers comeback.
“It was remarkable,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Cardinals’ defense. “I thought the line score just really doesn’t tell the story as far as the at-bats we took. I don’t really know how well they defend as far as through the season, but tonight it was a difference-maker.
“Even that last play (Tyler) O’Neill made, the game is over. Across the board, the center fielder, O’Neill, (Tommy) Edmond, all those guys just made a lot of good plays. And obviously Arenado is Nolan Arenado.”
The Dodgers’ 13 losses in one-run games is the most in baseball, but not necessarily cause for panic with Roberts. “Obviously it means we’re in a lot of our games and the win-loss could be a lot different,” he said.
“I haven’t really dissected each game, because I think each game is different. We found ways to lose those games in different ways. I guess I’ll just take from it that essentially every night we have a chance to win.”
He conceded some luck — good or bad — could be at play, but added “You’ve got to make your own breaks. If we look back at those 20 games, we could’ve done some other things that probably got us over the top and won those games. A lot of times you make your own luck.”
Aside from Tuesday’s defeat coming in the fashion of another by one run, the Dodgers missed an opportunity to pick up a game on the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, who both lost.
As a whole, the Dodgers’ rollercoaster of a season has continued since a 13-4 stretch. They have lost four of six games on the current homestand and a defeat in the finale will mean dropping back-to-back series.
Nevertheless, the Dodgers enter play Wednesday only two games back of the Giants for first place in the National League West.
Turner: Dodgers were finding ways to lose
Players preached patience and confidence despite the Dodgers trudging through a 5-15 stretch last month, but Justin Turner recently acknowledged it felt as though the team could not get out of their own way.
“It was obviously a rough couple weeks there where we weren’t getting good results,” he said. “Whether it was not making a pitch, or not getting a big hit, or not making a play on defense, it just seemed like it was game after game of finding ways to give them away.”
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