Los Angeles Dodgers: Avoiding a sweep against a third straight southpaw

Fans have been reminded of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggles against left-handed pitching as the team is on the brink of being swept by the Chicago Cubs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers went an entire two weeks without having to face a left-handed starting pitcher and did fairly well as a result. Even with a six-game losing streak under their belt, the Dodgers still had one of the best records in Major League Baseball.

After defeating the Milwaukee Brewers with two clutch home runs off of Josh Hader, one by Enrique Hernandez and one by Cody Bellinger, the Los Angeles Dodgers got their first off-day in 17 days and were set for a three-game series in Chicago.

This series would be challenging not only because the Cubs are a playoff-caliber team and are at home, but because Chicago was sending three straight left-handed pitchers against the Dodgers.

For the last two years, left-handed pitching has been the team’s one Achilles’ Heel. And while they are not awful against southpaws, especially this year, they certainly are worse against lefties than right-handed pitching.

And as a result, the Dodgers have dropped the opening two games of the contest. The first game, a 7-2 loss, was much closer than the score would admit. Kenta Maeda rebounded from a tough first two innings and the Cubs recorded just one hit after the second inning. The offense was unable to capitalize.

On Wednesday, the Dodgers once again allowed seven runs, this time losing 7-6. The team had a 3-0 lead in what appeared to be a great start for Walker Buehler. However, with two outs in what was sure to be his last inning of work, Javier Baez sent a ball into the bleachers to tie the game at three.

A great shutout outing turned into a mediocre outing with the crack of the bat. Scott Alexander came in, allowed another three-run home run and an Anthony Rizzo double the following inning was enough to hold the Dodgers off after a three-run home run of their own from Alex Verdugo.

Avoiding a sweep would be huge as it would not only give the team momentum heading back to LA but would give the Dodgers a 4-3 road trip, which is a win when you are playing two playoff-caliber teams.

With that in mind, here is who we think will spark the offense tonight against Jon Lester, as part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 0): Enrique Hernandez

Enrique Hernandez has bat lead-off for the Dodgers the last two days and is likely going to get a prominent place in the order once again because of today’s opposing starting pitcher, Jon Lester.

While it is no Madison Bumgarner, Lester is a pitcher that Hernandez hits fairly well against and it would be foolish to keep him out of the lineup, even if he has not been great the last two days.

Hernandez has 19 at-bats logged against Lester with five hits, one of which being a triple and two being home runs. The average might not be all there but Hernandez’ 1.018 OPS against Lester in his career is promising.

Hernandez has always been the kind of player that can disappear at times only to show up and have a massive game. Today feels like one of those days where Hernandez has two RBI hits to his name and has arguably his best game of the year thus far.