PHOENIX — After the Dodgers wound up on high of a wild contest on Friday at Chase Area, supervisor Dave Roberts acknowledged that his staff’s pitching needed to be higher on an evening that the offense had put them in place to win with ease.
The alternative was the case in Saturday’s 3-0 loss. Dustin Might held the D-backs to a pair of runs throughout a season-high 6 2/3 innings, however the Dodgers’ bats couldn’t preserve the momentum going and have been shut out for the third time this yr.
Being blanked one evening after scoring 14 runs and refusing to go away isn’t any straightforward tablet to swallow. Roberts had even stated earlier than the sport that it felt like “the primary time all yr that just about our complete lineup is clicking.”
However on the mound for the D-backs was Corbin Burnes, who had skipped his beforehand scheduled begin as a result of shoulder irritation. Might held his personal whereas dueling the previous Cy Younger Award winner, however Burnes was, properly …
“Being Corbin Burnes,” stated Freddie Freeman, whose 14-game hitting streak ended with an 0-for-4 evening. “He’s top-of-the-line pitchers within the sport for a motive. Cutter was 95-97 [mph], acquired good depth. Threw the curveball off of it. Changeup was working too. Simply had all the things going at this time.”
Burnes tossed seven scoreless innings, whereas Might’s 6 2/3 frames represented the primary time he had pitched into the seventh since Might 12, 2023, one flip earlier than he left a begin with elbow ache, the start of an almost two-year absence from large league motion.
It was a bounceback effort for Might, who had begun the yr by holding opponents to 5 runs (two earned) in his first three begins. However he had a tough go of his subsequent three main into Saturday, combining to permit 14 runs — all earned — throughout 16 innings.
The D-backs first acquired on the board when Corbin Carroll tripled to steer off the third inning, then scored on a groundout. Their second run off Might was a booming solo shot off the bat of Eugenio Suárez that traveled a Statcast-projected 455 ft within the sixth. Each large hits got here on sinkers that caught an excessive amount of of the plate.
“I believed Dustin was actually good,” Roberts stated. “I believed he was in rhythm, he was getting forward in counts. He put guys away when he wanted to. The sweeper was working. He labored to each side of the plate.”
Apart from the mislocated choices, Might felt a lot nearer to the place he needs to be.
“I really feel like I used to be working the sinker to each side of the plate, and I had simply two poorly executed sinkers, and so they took benefit of it,” Might stated. “It is the large leagues, and that is what they do.”
Might and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the one Dodgers starters with a number of begins of a minimum of six innings this season. L.A. leads the Majors with 170 1/3 innings from the bullpen and has sorely wanted extra size from the rotation.
With Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow sidelined with shoulder accidents, the Dodgers’ rotation has not been at full energy. The staff can also be practically midway by way of a stretch of 19 video games in 20 days, and has plugged in bullpen video games and spot starters as wanted to get by way of it.
Los Angeles has 4 starters within the rotation as issues stand — not together with Landon Knack, who was recalled to start out final Wednesday’s sequence finale in Miami and can probably get yet another begin throughout the upcoming homestand. The staff is a few week away from getting a key reinforcement, with Clayton Kershaw anticipated to rejoin the Dodgers after making yet another rehab begin with Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis on Sunday.
Whereas Kershaw stretched out to 6 innings in his most up-to-date rehab begin, there is no telling precisely how a lot the Dodgers will get out of him from the soar, particularly since he has missed a lot time over the previous yr. As he reacclimates to the large leagues, it is going to be as much as the remainder of the rotation to offer some stability.
If Might can construct on Saturday’s efficiency, that will assist put the Dodgers in an amazing spot.
“He was nice,” Freeman stated. “He was actually good. … Simply had all the things going at this time. We simply couldn’t get him any runs.”
