Steve Webb
KANSAS CITY, MO — Dodger fans had this road trip circled on the calendar — six games against two last place teams, the Rockies and the Royals. It seemed like this would be a perfect opportunity to make up some ground on the first place D-backs. And after winning three of the first four, everything seemed to be going to according to plan. But then this weekend happened. Two straight losses, one blow-out to one of the worst teams in baseball? Unacceptable. And yet it happened. And such is the state of play of the 2023 LA Dodgers.
Sunday’s game was a study in contrasts. Everything that the Royals did right, pitching, defense, baserunning, the Dodgers seemed to do wrong. It was a flat, uninspired performance in a 9-1 loss.
Tony Gonsolin had the start, and for the third straight outing, he just wasn’t effective or efficient, Using way too many pitches, even in scoreless innings, led Gonsolin to exit the game before recording the final out of the fourth, with the Dodgers already trailing 4-1. It would just get worse after that. Victor Gonzalez would give up three runs, and Yency Almonte two more, so by the time the late innings rolled around, it was pretty much a blowout. It was not great.
“I just haven’t been really good lately,” Gonsolin said after the game. “Feel like I’ve been walking a lot of guys, falling behind in counts and just not executing pitches.”
“I think the thing that stands out most is he just hasn’t had a slider,” manager Dave Roberts said. “With [right-handed hitters], the equalizer has been the slider, and he just hasn’t had it. It doesn’t have the bite. It’s been up in the zone and he’s not getting the swing and miss that we’re accustomed to.”
The offense was basically nonexistent on Sunday against Royals starter Brady Singer, with the only run coming on a Miguel Vargas sac fly in the fourth inning. The top of the lineup, usually so consistent, got a grand total of one hit, and if not for a three-hit day from David Peralta, the back half of the batting order would have taken an 0-fer. Contrast that with the bottom of the Royals batting order that went 6-for-12 and drove in six runs.
The Dodgers have always been able to take care of business on the road, and it doesn’t feel great to watch the team play so poorly. After a 3-3 road trip, they find themselves exactly where they were at the beginning of the week: three games behind Arizona in the NL West. Now, it’s home for six more games before the All-Star break: four with the Pirates, and a pair with the Angels. I would say that it’s an opportunity to make up some games on the D-backs, but look where that got me last week. Anyway, let’s go, Dodgers!
