Los Angeles Dodgers: Offense looks to turn it around against a righty
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ offense did not give rookie pitcher Dustin May any help on Friday as the team could only muster two runs on four hits.
The Los Angeles Dodgers sent rookie pitcher Dustin May to the mound on Friday night and in the first five innings, May looked great. If it was not for a second-inning error, May would have tossed five scoreless innings.
However, the sixth inning rolled around and May was starting to get hit hard by the top of the San Diego Padres order in his third time facing them. He allowed three runs in the inning but still exited with a standing ovation from Dodger fans.
Ultimately, while some will complain that May was left in too long (but the same people would have complained if he was pulled and the runs were still scored), it does not matter as the Dodgers offense was woeful.
That was expected as Eric Lauer got the ball for the Padres. Lauer is one of those textbook mediocre pitchers that thrives against LA and continues his unbeaten streak against the team.
Los Angeles’ only two runs came on a Cody Bellinger home run, which was preceded by a Max Muncy single. Aside from that fourth inning offense, only Kristopher Negron and Justin Turner could add base hits, albeit they were both two-out singles that didn’t really mean anything.
Luckily, after two straight southpaws, the Dodgers potentially will get some relief against right-handed Cal Quantrill.
As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can deliver at least one base hit to extend the streak.
Jason’s pick (Current streak: 1): Joc Pederson
Cal Quantrill has never faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in his short MLB career thus far so there are no matchup numbers to bank on when making a selection. Thus, the pick entirely becomes a gut pick.
My gut is telling me that Joc Pederson is not only going to get a base hit off of the young right-handed pitcher, but he is going to hit a long home run to kickstart the Dodgers’ offense.
Pederson has not hit a home run in nine games and quite frankly, he has been much colder than people give him credit for. People get caught up in when he is swinging an extremely hot bat that the cold streaks kind of go unnoticed.
Pederson is hitting just .190 with six home runs and a .602 OPS since the start of June, which is being masked by the fact that he hit .274 with 17 home runs and a 1.037 OPS prior to this cold streak.
It might not be the wisest decision based on his trends over the last two months, but something tells me that Joc Pederson will leave the yard on Saturday.