For the first half of July, the Dodgers’ slumping offense struggled to simply create consistent scoring chances.
In recent weeks, the problem has been more about capitalizing upon them.
Down the stretch in a 5-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday however, the team finally found a few clutch late-game hits.
Will Smith and Freddie Freeman hit consecutive two-out RBI singles in the seventh inning, erasing the two-run deficit Tyler Glasnow had left behind in a disappointing four-plus-innings, four-run start.
Then, Smith came through again in the ninth, lacing a go-ahead, two-out RBI double off the wall in left that scored pinch-runner James Outman all the way from first base.
It was the Dodgers’ 37th come-from-behind win this season; and, given how July has gone so far for the team, one of their biggest of late to clinch a series win in Cincinnati.
“It’s huge to get the series win tonight,” Smith said. “We needed a big hit right there. Got it and fought back. A little momentum for tomorrow.”
And, the Dodgers (63-45) hope, moving forward into the final stretch of the season.
Amid the Dodgers’ many issues at the plate this month, hitting with runners in scoring position had grown as one of the most glaring weaknesses. Entering play Tuesday, the team was hitting just .242 in such situations in July, ranking in the bottom half of the majors for the month. Wasted chances were a defining theme of the team’s series loss in Boston over the weekend, punctuated by a Sunday defeat in which they went one-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 men on base.
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Early in Tuesday’s game, the problem persisted. After a two-run home run from Tommy Edman — who was back in the lineup despite a flare-up of his ankle injury over the weekend — in the second inning, the Dodgers left runners stranded in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
In two of those failed rallies, strikeouts from Shohei Ohtani proved costly, part of an 0-for-5 night in which he struck out five times.
“I think he just got into swing mode,” manager Dave Roberts said. “When he’s best, he’s getting the baseball up, and he’s using the big part of the field … But tonight, just one of those nights that he just couldn’t help himself from swinging.”
Meanwhile, on the mound, Glasnow faltered in the sweltering summer heat, giving up two home runs on elevated sliders in the fourth inning before leaving the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth; lucky that only one of the runners he left behind came around to score.
“I felt good early,” said Glasnow, who saw a string of three strong starts since returning from the injured list snapped by his four-plus-innings, four-run start. “Just kind of lost the feel towards the end. Not quite sure what it was. I just wasn’t executing in the zone.”
Down 4-2 at that point, the Dodgers faced a predicament that had so often proved fatal during their scuffles in recent weeks: A multirun deficit, against the heart of the opposing team’s bullpen.
This time, however, the lineup found late life.
Michael Conforto got the seventh-inning rally started, drawing a walk as a pinch-hitter. That was followed by a bloop single from Mookie Betts, who reached base three times to continue his subtle turnaround since moving to the leadoff spot.
Ohtani struck out behind him, finishing the night ranked tied for fourth in the majors with 129 punchouts this year (including 17 in his last 38 at-bats).
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But then, Smith — the National League batting leader with a .325 average — dumped a single into left and Freeman then tied the score with an RBI single the same direction, giving him his first three-hit game (two of which were opposite-field line drives; a good sign for his long-ailing swing) in more than a month.
“That’s vintage Freddie,” Roberts said. “I think he’s been working on trying to find a cue, working hard. And tonight he looked really good.”
The score remained tied into the ninth, thanks largely to 1 ⅓ scoreless innings from former Reds closer Alexis Díaz, who was booed by the Cincinnati fans in his first trip back to the ballpark since being dealt to the Dodgers earlier this season.
“I expected something different,” Díaz, a 2023 All-Star with the Reds who fell out of favor after a brutal start to this season, said in Spanish. “For those years I was here, I pitched really well and I was liked during that time. So to see that, it surprised me a lot. But I stayed calm and with the relaxed mindset and confidence that I was going to do my job.”
As a result, the Dodgers had the chance to take the lead in the ninth.
Conforto again battled his way on base with a 10-pitch walk, before Smith lined a double off the wall in left that allowed Outman to fly around the bases for the eventual winning run.
“It’s hard to go through the list of quality at-bats right there,” Roberts said. “But yeah, Michael. Obviously the Will at-bat. Freddie. Just on and on. I think that we really put together some good at-bats, found a way to win a ball game.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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