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Dodgers May review: .500 days of spring

Colorado Rockies v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

The Dodgers collectively didn’t hit much at all in May, and saw four of their five opening day starting pitchers get injured. Their ace was hurt on the first day of the month and then returned on the last day of the month, only to get hurt again.

They were swept at home by the last-place Reds, and swept the now half-game-out-of-first place Nationals on the road. It was an odd month.

Despite all that the Dodgers slogged to a .500 mark in the month and somehow still managed to shave their division deficit in half, trailing by eight games at the start of the month but four back now.

Batter of May

Matt Kemp hit .361/.379/.557 with three home runs, and led the Dodgers in hits (35), doubles (10) and RBI (17). May was the third month of his career with double-digit two-baggers, along with August 2008 (12) and May 2017.

Honorable mention goes to Max Muncy, who slugged .551 and was second to Kemp with 15 RBI. Muncy tied for the team lead in home runs with Yasiel Puig, who overcame a punchless April to post a .970 OPS in May.

Pitcher of May

Attrition pressed Ross Stripling into the rotation, and he ably took the reins. Stripling had 40 strikeouts against only four walks in the month and posted a 1.20 ERA. The top four strikeout games of Stripling’s career were his last four starts.

Honorable mention goes to Walker Buehler, who was spectacular in his own right with a 2.32 ERA and 37 strikeouts with five walks; and to Kenley Jansen, who looked like Kenley Jansen again with one run allowed, 16 strikeouts and two walks, plus nine saves.

May NL West standings

Team W L Pct GB RS RA
Team W L Pct GB RS RA
Rockies 15 11 0.577 ---- 120 112
Padres 15 13 0.536 1 122 131
Dodgers 14 14 0.500 2 107 93
Giants 11 16 0.407 124 155
Diamondbacks 8 19 0.296 77 108

Record: 14-14
107 runs scored (3.82 per game)
93 runs allowed (3.32 per game)
.564 pythagorean winning percentage (16-12)

NL West standings through May

Team W L Pct GB RS RA
Team W L Pct GB RS RA
Rockies 30 26 0.536 ---- 235 252
Diamondbacks 28 27 0.509 209 198
Dodgers 26 30 0.464 4 240 217
Giants 26 30 0.464 4 230 279
Padres 25 33 0.431 6 241 286

Record: 26-30
240 runs scored (4.29 per game)
217 runs allowed (3.88 per game)
.546 pythagorean winning percentage (31-25)

Game of the month

In the second game of a doubleheader on May 19 the Dodgers saw Rich Hill leave after two pitches, needing to get nine innings from the bullpen against Max Scherzer. To top it all the Dodgers trailed 4-2 late and scored one in the eighth to pull closer, then scored a pair in the ninth to secure an improbable doubleheader sweep.

Situational stats

Pinch hitting: Dodgers pinch hitters for in May were just 10-for-58, hitting .172/.262/.276.

Runners in scoring position: The Dodgers for the month were terrible with RISP, hitting just .187/.305/.258. They were middle of the pack in RISP opportunities, 15th in MLB in May with 259 plate appearances.

Bases loaded: After a productive April with the bags packed, in May the Dodgers were 2-for-16 (.125) with a double with the bases loaded, with four sacrifice flies.

May weeks in review: Apr. 30-May 6 | May 7-13 | May 14-20 | May 21-27

The month ahead

The Dodgers play 14 of their 26 games at home in June, including hosting the Rangers for two interleague games. LA plays the Cubs seven times in 11 days from June 18-28, including four games at Dodger Stadium.

Stats

May 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
Puig 53 11 15 2 0 5 8 1 0 7 12 0 0 0 60 0.283 0.367 0.604 0.970 0.278 Puig
Kemp 97 8 35 10 0 3 17 0 0 4 19 0 0 2 103 0.361 0.379 0.557 0.935 0.416 Kemp
Muncy 69 8 18 5 0 5 15 0 0 13 19 1 0 1 84 0.261 0.381 0.551 0.932 0.283 Muncy
Taylor 91 16 23 5 2 3 10 1 1 16 29 5 0 0 112 0.253 0.393 0.451 0.843 0.339 Taylor
Turner 55 6 14 3 0 1 8 0 0 4 6 1 0 0 60 0.255 0.317 0.364 0.680 0.271 Turner
Grandal 72 11 13 0 0 4 9 1 0 15 22 0 0 2 89 0.181 0.315 0.347 0.662 0.188 Grandal
Bellinger 100 10 18 4 1 5 13 2 0 11 30 1 0 1 113 0.180 0.265 0.390 0.655 0.197 Bellinger
Pederson 71 8 15 6 1 0 5 0 0 6 12 1 0 1 79 0.211 0.278 0.324 0.602 0.250 Pederson
Forsythe 42 3 10 3 0 0 2 0 0 3 5 0 0 0 45 0.238 0.289 0.310 0.598 0.270 Forsythe
Starters 650 81 161 38 4 26 87 5 1 79 154 9 0 7 745 0.248 0.334 0.438 0.773 0.283 Starters
Hernandez 56 8 11 0 0 4 7 0 0 4 15 0 0 0 60 0.196 0.250 0.411 0.661 0.189 Hernandez
Locastro 11 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 1 0 0 14 0.182 0.357 0.273 0.630 0.333 Locastro
Barnes 42 9 9 0 0 1 1 0 0 7 11 1 0 0 50 0.214 0.340 0.286 0.626 0.267 Barnes
Verdugo 29 3 7 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 30 0.241 0.241 0.379 0.621 0.292 Verdugo
Farmer 21 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 23 0.190 0.217 0.190 0.408 0.235 Farmer
Utley 51 3 7 1 1 0 3 0 0 3 12 0 0 0 54 0.137 0.185 0.196 0.381 0.179 Utley
Valera 9 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 10 0.111 0.200 0.111 0.311 0.143 Valera
Bench 219 25 41 6 1 5 14 1 0 18 55 2 1 1 241 0.187 0.254 0.292 0.546 0.225 Bench
Pitchers 46 1 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 22 0 7 0 53 0.087 0.087 0.087 0.174 0.167 Pitchers
Offense 915 107 206 44 5 31 102 7 1 97 231 11 8 8 1039 0.225 0.305 0.386 0.690 0.265 Offense

May 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
Ryu 1 1 0 0 1.3 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0.00 1.500 2.45 Ryu
Stripling 5 5 3 0 29.0 24 5 4 1 4 0 40 0 1.24 0.966 1.30 Stripling
Buehler 5 5 2 1 31.0 18 9 8 2 5 0 37 1 2.32 0.742 2.23 Buehler
Kershaw 2 2 0 0 11.0 10 3 3 2 2 0 11 0 2.45 1.091 4.11 Kershaw
Wood 5 5 1 1 27.3 27 11 10 5 7 0 28 0 3.29 1.244 4.30 Wood
Maeda 5 5 2 2 26.0 20 10 10 3 8 0 34 0 3.46 1.077 3.01 Maeda
Stewart 2 2 0 0 8.0 10 6 5 2 3 1 6 0 5.63 1.625 5.70 Stewart
Hill 3 3 0 1 9.7 13 8 7 4 6 0 9 0 6.52 1.966 8.58 Hill
Starters 28 28 8 5 0 143.3 123 52 47 19 36 1 167 1 2.95 1.109 3.35 Starters
Goeddel 6 1 0 5.7 3 0 0 0 5 1 6 0 0.00 1.412 3.20 Goeddel
Stripling 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 0.000 1.20 Stripling
Paredes 1 0 0 0.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 0.000 7.70 Paredes
Jansen 14 0 0 9 15.0 7 1 1 0 2 0 16 0 0.60 0.600 1.47 Jansen
Alexander 9 0 0 8.7 6 1 1 0 3 0 6 1 1.04 1.038 3.20 Alexander
Stewart 2 0 0 4.0 2 1 1 0 2 0 2 1 2.25 1.000 4.45 Stewart
Baez 13 1 2 13.7 13 5 4 1 6 2 18 1 2.63 1.390 2.61 Baez
Fields 13 0 2 1 13.3 9 4 4 2 4 0 9 0 2.70 0.975 4.70 Fields
Hudson 10 1 1 13.3 13 6 6 1 6 1 9 0 4.05 1.425 3.95 Hudson
Cingrani 11 0 1 10.3 8 5 5 1 3 1 15 1 4.35 1.065 2.43 Cingrani
Garcia 7 1 1 7.7 8 5 4 1 1 0 7 1 4.70 1.174 3.85 Garcia
Venditte 4 0 0 3.7 5 3 3 1 0 0 4 1 7.36 1.364 5.38 Venditte
Liberatore 6 0 1 3.0 5 3 3 0 2 0 4 0 9.00 2.333 2.53 Liberatore
Chargois 8 2 1 6.7 11 7 7 1 7 1 9 0 9.45 2.700 5.15 Chargois
Relievers 105 0 6 9 10 106.7 90 41 39 8 41 6 106 7 3.29 1.228 3.37 Relievers
Totals 133 28 14 14 10 250.0 213 93 86 27 77 7 273 8 3.10 1.160 3.36 Totals