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Dodgers August review: Dog-day finish

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

A funny thing happened on the way to the Dodgers’ all-time wins record. The Dodgers were cruising along for nearly all of August, but then dropped their final five games of the month.

They dropped their first series — two of them even — in nearly 12 weeks, then suffered their first four-game losing streak of the season. That streak reached five on Thursday when the Dodgers were swept for the first time in 2017.

That ending left a bad aftertaste in what was otherwise a very solid month, with the Dodgers going 17-10. The club did reach 90 wins, and matched their 2016 win total before August even ended.

Batter of August

Yasiel Puig set a new career high with 20 walks in a month, and he also slugged .537 with five home runs and five doubles in the month. He delivered a pair of final-at-bat winners, with a walk-off double on Aug. 16 against the White Sox and a game-winning home run in the 12th inning on Aug. 21 in Pittsburgh.

Pitcher of August

None of the starting pitchers particularly stood out, so we’ll go with closer Kenley Jansen, who continued his excellent campaign with eight saves in August, with 24 strikeouts in 12 innings, with just one run allowed.

August performance

August NL West standings

Team W L Pct GB Runs scored Runs allowed
Team W L Pct GB Runs scored Runs allowed
Dodgers 17 10 0.630 --- 121 97
Diamondbacks 16 13 0.552 2.0 127 139
Giants 13 15 0.464 4.5 111 118
Rockies 12 15 0.444 5.0 117 119
Padres 12 16 0.429 5.5 109 126

Record: 17-10
121 runs scored (4.48 per game)
97 runs allowed (3.59 per game)
.600 pythagorean winning percentage (16-11)

Season to date

NL West standings through August 31

Team W L Pct GB Runs scored Runs allowed
Team W L Pct GB Runs scored Runs allowed
Dodgers 91 41 0.689 --- 656 447
Diamondbacks 76 58 0.567 16.0 655 543
Rockies 72 61 0.541 19.5 681 633
Padres 59 74 0.444 32.5 509 659
Giants 53 82 0.393 39.5 530 656

Record: 91-41
656 runs scored (4.97 per game)
447 runs allowed (3.39 per game)
.669 pythagorean winning percentage (88-44)

Game of the month

It is a little weird that the game of August was a loss, but Rich Hill was awesome on Aug. 23 in Pittsburgh, flirting with perfection for a second year in a row. A ninth-inning error took away the perfect game, and the Dodgers offense didn’t provide any support. Hill pitched into the 10th inning with a no-hitter going, but his first hit allowed was a walk-off home run by Josh Harrison of the Pirates.

Situational stats

Pinch hitting: Dodgers pinch hitters were 11-for-45 with two doubles and five walks in August, hitting .244/.333/.289.

Runners in scoring position: The Dodgers hit .267/.381/.386 with RISP in August, with five home runs and nine doubles in 262 plate appearances.

Bases loaded: The team was 9-for-33 for the month, hitting .273/.316/.394 with the bases loaded in August. Curtis Granderson hit a grand slam.

A look back

August weeks in review: July 31-Aug. 6 | Aug. 7-13 | Aug. 14-20 | Aug. 21-27

Previous months in review: April | May | June | July

The month ahead

There are 30 games left on the schedule, including series in the final month against NL playoff contenders the Nationals, Rockies (twice) and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers play 13 more home games, and 17 on the road, including a 10-game, 11-day road trip from Sept. 11-21 through San Francisco, Washington, and Philadelphia.

Stats

August batting

Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP SH SF PA BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP Player
Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP SH SF PA BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP Player
Bellinger 65 15 19 3 0 6 10 3 0 7 16 1 0 0 73 0.292 0.370 0.615 0.985 0.302 Bellinger
Puig 82 16 22 5 1 5 10 1 2 20 19 1 0 0 103 0.268 0.417 0.537 0.954 0.293 Puig
Taylor 105 19 30 6 1 6 17 3 0 11 23 3 0 0 119 0.286 0.370 0.533 0.903 0.316 Taylor
Turner 98 16 24 6 0 6 17 4 0 8 8 3 0 3 112 0.245 0.313 0.490 0.802 0.207 Turner
Seager 99 7 33 3 0 1 12 0 0 7 17 0 0 1 107 0.333 0.374 0.394 0.768 0.390 Seager
Grandal 74 9 16 4 0 4 8 0 0 8 23 0 0 0 82 0.216 0.293 0.432 0.725 0.255 Grandal
Forsythe 66 13 14 4 0 1 8 2 1 20 25 0 0 1 87 0.212 0.391 0.318 0.709 0.317 Forsythe
Granderson 41 6 5 0 0 4 8 1 0 9 15 1 0 0 51 0.122 0.294 0.415 0.709 0.045 Granderson
Gonzalez 47 4 9 4 0 1 5 0 0 2 10 0 0 1 50 0.191 0.220 0.340 0.560 0.216 Gonzalez
Pederson 37 3 2 2 0 0 4 1 0 4 7 2 0 0 43 0.054 0.186 0.108 0.294 0.067 Pederson
Starters 714 108 174 37 2 34 99 15 3 96 163 11 0 6 827 0.244 0.340 0.444 0.784 0.268 Starters
Barnes 38 3 13 3 0 0 6 0 0 5 4 2 0 0 45 0.342 0.444 0.421 0.865 0.382 Barnes
Utley 46 6 11 3 0 1 3 0 0 3 10 2 0 0 51 0.239 0.314 0.370 0.683 0.286 Utley
Farmer 11 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 11 0.273 0.273 0.273 0.545 0.375 Farmer
Hernandez 46 2 7 2 0 1 6 0 0 5 17 0 0 0 51 0.152 0.235 0.261 0.496 0.214 Hernandez
Segedin 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Segedin
Bench 144 12 34 8 0 2 15 0 0 13 34 4 0 0 161 0.236 0.317 0.333 0.650 0.296 Bench
Pitchers 44 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 25 1 5 0 50 0.068 0.089 0.068 0.157 0.158 Pitchers
Offense 902 121 211 45 2 36 115 15 3 109 222 16 5 6 1038 0.234 0.325 0.408 0.733 0.269 Offense

August pitching

Pitcher G GS W L Sv IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP ERA WHIP FIP Pitcher
Pitcher G GS W L Sv IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP ERA WHIP FIP Pitcher
Stripling 1 1 0 0 3.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 0.00 0.667 0.80 Stripling
Wood 4 4 2 0 25.0 24 7 7 5 3 0 17 0 2.52 1.080 4.73 Wood
Darvish 4 4 2 1 23.0 22 8 8 5 7 0 29 0 3.13 1.261 4.35 Darvish
Ryu 5 5 2 1 27.0 23 10 10 4 11 0 21 0 3.33 1.259 4.72 Ryu
Hill 5 5 1 2 28.7 26 15 15 7 8 0 36 0 4.71 1.186 4.63 Hill
Maeda 6 6 3 2 32.3 24 17 17 7 6 0 38 0 4.73 0.928 4.15 Maeda
Stewart 2 2 0 0 6.0 7 7 7 2 7 0 3 0 10.50 2.333 9.96 Stewart
Starters 27 27 10 6 0 145.0 127 64 64 30 43 0 149 0 3.97 1.172 4.65 Starters
Paredes 3 0 0 3.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0.00 0.333 -1.20 Paredes
Jansen 12 0 0 8 12.0 6 1 1 1 2 0 24 1 0.75 0.667 0.96 Jansen
Avilan 8 1 0 9.0 7 1 1 0 5 0 8 0 1.00 1.333 3.02 Avilan
Fields 10 0 0 9.7 6 2 2 1 2 0 7 0 1.86 0.828 3.65 Fields
Morrow 12 2 0 1 11.3 7 3 3 0 3 0 8 0 2.38 0.882 2.51 Morrow
Baez 10 0 1 10.7 8 4 4 2 6 0 11 1 3.38 1.313 5.47 Baez
Stripling 9 2 1 1 12.3 8 5 5 4 2 0 14 0 3.65 0.811 5.56 Stripling
Watson 12 2 1 9.7 9 5 5 2 3 2 8 2 4.66 1.241 5.10 Watson
Cingrani 10 0 0 9.3 8 5 5 1 2 0 14 0 4.82 1.071 2.17 Cingrani
Ravin 6 0 1 6.7 6 5 5 2 3 1 10 1 6.75 1.350 5.38 Ravin
Stewart 1 0 0 1.3 3 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 13.50 2.250 9.88 Stewart
Relievers 93 0 7 4 10 95.0 69 33 33 14 28 4 111 5 3.13 1.021 3.62 Relievers
Totals 120 27 17 10 10 240.0 196 97 97 44 71 4 260 5 3.64 1.113 4.25 Totals