When the Los Angeles Dodgers began a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants on June 10, they were only four games back of their rival for first place in the National League West.
Clayton Kershaw and Johnny Cueto dueled in the series opener, with Kershaw recording 13 strikeouts and Justin Turner hitting a game-deciding home run in the ninth inning. However, the Dodgers then suffered a pair of consecutive one-run losses.
That was despite taking a lead in the 10th inning of the second game of the series, only for Kenley Jansen to blow the save opportunity in a walk-off loss.
The Dodgers departed AT&T Park having lost ground in the standings and with three more games remaining on their road trip. Los Angeles suffered a third straight loss before ending the road trip with back-to-back wins.
Prior to the club leaving San Francisco, Justin Turner met with manager Dave Roberts, which then led to a larger conversation, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports:
“It was a great self-evaluation,” Turner said Friday. “Guys were talking in truths: ‘This is how I feel.’ It was eye-opening for everyone. And it really opened up a line of communication with the whole team. It’s been going on since that day, constant communication about everything.”
A.J. Ellis noted what benefit he saw in the Dodgers’ impromptu meeting:
“I felt like a lot of guys were given a forum to get a lot of things off their chests,” Ellis said. “There was nothing out of bounds. People weren’t afraid to say things that maybe they were holding in for a couple of years.”
The Dodgers went 8-2, which included a six-game winning streak, in the 10 games after the team-wide discussion. Also during that stretch of games was an exchange between Yasmani Grandal and Turner, because of Grandal’s baserunning gaffe that nearly cost the Dodgers a run.
While a fuse appeared to be lit, it’s worn off a bit as the Dodgers have dropped three straight games to the Pittsburgh Pirates entering play on Monday.
