Dodgers Week 2: Snakebit in the desert

For the second straight week to start the season, the Dodgers split their games. But against the Rockies and Diamondbacks, the Dodgers got results in an order that ended the week on the lowest possible note.

We knew this season was going to be more turbulent than most, but over the weekend at Chase Field, Dodgers pitching turned that turbulence into a nosedive with non-competitive starts by Noah Syndergaard and Michael Grove, and a bullpen that to date has started more fires than they’ve put out.

The pitching was so bad in Phoenix that it completely overshadowed a Dodgers offense that scored eight Saturday and six runs Sunday.

In three consecutive losses on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Dodgers allowed 29 runs to the Diamondbacks, tied for LA’s most ever in three straight games in one series at Chase Field. They also did this from May 24-26, 2002. The only three-game stretch in Arizona in which the Dodgers allowed more runs ran over two seasons, when the Dodgers gave up 10 runs in their final game there in 2016, then 13 and 11 runs over the first two games in Arizona in 2017.

Batter of the week

Freddie Freeman stayed hot, with 11 hits in 23 at-bats, including four doubles and a home run, one of five Dodgers with an OPS of at least 1.000 last week. Honorable mention goes to Jason Heyward, who homered in three of his four starts, and continues to punish the baseball.

Pitcher of the week

Julio Urías has been steady atop the rotation, including his six scoreless innings on Tuesday against the Rockies. After getting dinged for single runs in each of his first two innings on opening day, Urías has tossed 10 consecutive scoreless frames and has yet to walk a batter this season.

Week 2 results

3-3 record
40 runs scored (6.67 per game)
37 runs allowed (6.17 per game)
.536 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

5-5 record
60 runs scored (6.00 per game)
44 runs allowed (4.40 per game)
.638 pythagorean win percentage (6-4)

Miscellany

Messed around and got a double triple: Monday was a good day for James Outman, who tripled as part of the Dodgers’ seven-run fifth inning in a win over the Rockies. Then, the outfielder tripled again in the seventh. Outman is the first Dodger with two triples in a game since Yasiel Puig hit three triples on July 25, 2014 in San Francisco. Outman on Monday had just the 13th two-triple game in Dodger Stadium history, only six of which have been done by Dodgers.

A record score: When the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 5-2 on Thursday night in Phoenix, LA’s record improved to 5-2. It’s the first time the Dodgers’ game score matched their record since exactly two years earlier, when a 5-1 win in Oakland gave Los Angeles a 5-1 record.

This is 400: Friday night was the 400th regular season start for Clayton Kershaw, the 34th pitcher in major league history to make 400 starts with one team, and the third to do so with the Dodgers. But two home runs in the sixth inning gave Arizona the lead, turned around the game, and hung the loss on Kershaw, whose 3.91 career ERA at Chase Field is his third-worst at any ballpark he’s pitched in at least five times. Kershaw is 8-11 at Chase Field, one of only two parks in which he has a losing record (he’s also 2-3 in five starts at Wrigley Field).

Transactions

Despite Miguel Rojas missing the first five games of the week over six days with a mild left groin strain, the Dodgers opted for no injured list stint for the shortstop. No roster moves this week, a rarity.

Game results

• Monday: Dodgers 13, Rockies 4
• Tuesday: Dodgers 5, Rockies 2
• Thursday: Dodgers 5, D-backs 2
• Friday: D-backs 6, Dodgers 3
• Saturday: D-backs 12, Dodgers 8
• Sunday: D-backs 11, Dodgers 6

The week ahead

The Dodgers run the Joe Strain gauntlet, finishing off the road trip with three games in San Francisco before hosting the Cubs over the weekend, with Cody Bellinger and Edwin Ríos making their returns to Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles faces three left-handed starting pitchers this week, one more southpaw than they faced during the first 10 games of the season.

Michael Grove is in line to start Saturday against Chicago, but after allowing 12 runs on 14 hits in only 7⅓ innings in his two starts, I’d say making a third start should be very much in question. For now, I’ll list Saturday as TBD, and I’m sure you can all speculate who you think should start that game instead.