Los Angeles Dodgers: Looking to end the first half in the win column

After winning nine games in a row at Dodger Stadium the Los Angeles Dodgers look to end the first half of the season with a win, not a three-game losing streak.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have hit a minor hiccup and have lost back-to-back home games for the first time since early April when the team lost six games in a row to the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.

The only reason why the Dodgers have lost the last two games is the offense was unable to produce in both games. The Dodgers got good starts out of both Kenta Maeda and Clayton Kershaw but scored just a combined three runs in the two games.

It is fan-nature for people to now expect the Dodgers offense to be unproductive and expect the worst but really, it is just one of the ebbs and flows of a baseball season. Not only is it just two games, but it is easy to see why they didn’t score much considering who they faced.

On Friday, the team faced lefty Eric Lauer, who has historically carved the Dodgers up with a fastball that Cody Bellinger called weird last year.

Then on Saturday, the Dodgers faced electric young arm, Chris Paddack, who has been exceptional this year. The Dodgers did manage to score six runs off of Paddack in his last outing at Dodger Stadium, so you know he was looking to right that wrong on Saturday.

And he did. Two great pitching performances has led to a two-game losing streak and now all the Dodgers can do is look at today and look to flip the results to avoid going into the All-Star Break on a three-game losing streak.

As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can kickstart the offense on Sunday afternoon.

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

After a nine-game hitting streak I have too fallen victim to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ offense and have incorrectly picked a hitter in three straight games. Today, I turn to Enrique Hernandez to get me going on the right foot heading into the break.

The Dodgers are again coming up against a southpaw, although they have had more success against Joey Lucchesi. Lucchesi has a 7.64 career ERA against the Dodgers, allowing 15 earned runs in 17 and two-thirds innings.

Perhaps that is a sign that the offense is looking to explode after two off nights and end the first half on a bang. If the offense is really going to have a good day, then we will definitely see some late Fourth of July fireworks off the bat of Enrique Hernandez.

Hernandez has three hits in 11 at-bats lifetime against Lucchesi, which includes a double and a home run. Despite having a poor first have, Hernandez has been decent over the last 15 games, hitting .262 with three home runs.

When Hernandez gets ahold of one he has some of the most electric power on the Los Angeles Dodgers. If he gets ahold of one in the hot summer afternoon, we could see a ball threaten to leave orbit on Sunday.