The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their four-game set on Thursday afternoon with a topsy-turvy affair. The Cardinals won 11-7 in a rollercoaster tilt that included four lead changes, thus completing a sweep in what could prove to be a preview of this fall's National League Championship Series.
With due respect to the Cardinals (now 8-5 ahead of a weekend pair against the Cincinnati Reds) we want to focus on the Dodgers, who were let down by their rotation in each stop along the way in the series. Take a look at the lines for each of the Dodgers starters, keeping in mind that Hyun-Jin Ryu was lifted early in the opener due to a strained groin that landed him on the injured list:
With Ryu departing so quickly, the Dodgers would've welcomed their other starters working deep into games to alleviate the bullpen's workload. That didn't happen. Instead Ross Stripling, Kenta Maeda, and Walker Buehler combined for 14 ⅓ innings while permitting 17 hits, 14 runs, six walks, and two homers. (They did notch 17 strikeouts.) Los Angeles's bullpen served as a sieve at times, too, yielding at least two runs in three of the four contests. Not great.
Thursday brought word that Clayton Kershaw would be returning to the Dodgers rotation in the coming days. Consider that a potential boon for a group that could use it. Thus far this season, the Dodgers have had four quality starts in 14 tries (two of those being Ryu's). Heck, three of their five starters have averaged fewer than five innings per pop. Some of that is by design -- Urias has faced exactly 19 batters in both of his starts -- but even manager Dave Roberts conceded after Thursday's game that the Dodgers cannot continue to operate this way:
"It's certainly not ideal, but if you look at this next series, obviously we're carrying nine relievers and we're in a good place," Roberts told reporters. "It's something you can't sustain and it's not the way we model it, but we still have to find a way to get outs and win a baseball game."
Heading forward, the Dodgers will need to get more length and higher quality from their starters -- especially someone like Buehler. Including Thursday's start, he's now accumulated 12 innings in three starts while giving up 11 runs and walking five (he's struck out nine). That's not what the Dodgers want and not what they need if they're to win a third consecutive pennant.
The good news for the Dodgers is that it's early. The bad news is that their 8-2 start is a thing of the past -- and soon so might their clutch on the division lead. If the San Diego Padres win Thursday night, the Dodgers will fall out of the catbird seat for the first time since the second day of the season. There's no reason to be concerned just yet -- not unless, that is, the rotation keeps coming up short.
