PITTSBURGH — As Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani have slumped recently, creating a drag on the Dodgers’ offense, Manager Dave Roberts might have been tempted to shuffle his lineup if for no other reason than to shake up its chemistry.
But there’s one problem with that.
“Well, if there were other options or better options I’m all for listening. But if you look up and down our lineup there’s really no one who’s going great,” Roberts said when asked about the potential for a change at the top of the lineup with the Dodgers averaging just 3.39 runs per game over their past 18.
“I think baseball is cyclical in the sense of the ups and downs. Great players like that, their track record, what’s expected of them – you’ve got to run them out there. … I don’t see that ever changing for me, as far as (Betts and Ohtani hitting at) the top somewhere. But they’ve got to go out there – they’re grinding and they’re the best we’ve got.”
After getting off to MVP-level starts to their seasons, neither Betts nor Ohtani have been performing at their best recently.
Betts carried a .368 batting average out of April. Going into Wednesday’s game, though, he had batted .256 in 29 games since the end of April including just .219 in the past 16 games with only one hit in his last 20 at-bats before Wednesday.
Ohtani was leading the majors in batting average (.364) and OPS (1.108) in mid-May. He was hit in the back of his left leg by a pickoff throw on May 16. Whether it is coincidental or causal, Ohtani hit .197 (12 for 61) in a 16-game stretch starting that night including just two hits in his last 13 at-bats before Wednesday’s game.
“His words – he doesn’t feel it when he’s swinging the bat,” Roberts said recently when asked if the bruised hamstring is a factor in Ohtani’s slump. “But he’s a finely-tuned machine and sometimes, in the context of a sports car, when it’s not firing on all cylinders, it just doesn’t run right. When his back was bothering him a little bit (earlier in May), you saw some funkier swings, a little bit more chase. His hamstring is bothering him a little bit, you see a little bit of the same thing.”
Ohtani was carved up by Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander Paul Skenes in his first at-bat Wednesday, striking out on three pitches (all fastballs 100 mph or higher). In his second at-bat, however, Ohtani turned on a 100.1 mph with the count full and drove it off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field, an estimated 415 feet away.
But Roberts said he sees some of the same problems in Ohtani’s recent struggles that he saw early in the season before Ohtani settled in and took off.
“There’s a little bit more chase in there and pitches that are in his nitro zone he’s just missing,” Roberts said. “There’s a little more off-balance swings. But then he’ll square one up. It’s just not as consistent as it had been after the first couple weeks.
“But hitting is hard. Hitting is hard and Freddie (Freeman) came out of it, he’s coming out of it. But Mookie’s still grinding and Shohei is in that same situation.”
REHAB FRIDAY
The Dodgers will have three injured pitchers taking significant steps forward on Friday.
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Right-hander Bobby Miller is scheduled to make his third rehab start, this time with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Miller allowed seven runs on nine hits and three walks in 6⅓ innings in two rehab starts with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. He has been out since April 10 with shoulder discomfort.
Right-hander Kyle Hurt is also scheduled to pitch during Friday’s game for OKC. Hurt has been out since April 16 with shoulder inflammation and was placed on the 60-day injured list.
And left-hander Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to throw two simulated innings at Rancho Cucamonga on Friday. Kershaw will not pitch in the Quakes’ game but has progressed in his recovery from shoulder surgery last November.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Walker Buehler, 1-3, 4.32 ERA) at Pirates (LHP Bailey Flater, 3-2, 3.22 ERA), Thursday, 3:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
