Dodgers Week 1: Inconsistent offense & an unsatisfying split

LOS ANGELES — It’s impossible to glean much from four games of a 162-game schedule, but the volatility of the weekend showed a Dodgers team that doesn’t have the margin for error its had in years past.

The Dodgers outscored the Diamondbacks 20 to seven over the weekend, but split the four-game series, winning two blowouts and dropping a pair of 2-1 contests. Both losses included hiccups from usually reliable relievers, with Alex Vesia surrendering a two-run home run on Friday, then Brusdar Graterol unable to find his command in the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss.

Over the course of a season, Vesia and Graterol will likely pitch very well, though it doesn’t make the two losses any less frustrating. But then again, even with those two innings, Dodgers pitching allowed only seven runs in four games. Put another way, the Dodgers allowed no more than two runs in every game so far but only won half of them.

Expecting the bullpen to give up zero runs isn’t close to realistic, but it’s the situation the offense created by scoring only one run in two of the first four games.

“We’re going to score runs,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I still like our lineup. There’s a few guys who just haven’t got on track.”

Batter of the week

Though he didn’t even play until Saturday, Trayce Thompson had a monster performance with three home runs and eight RBI against Arizona. He leads the majors in runs batted in, and is tied with Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron for most home runs. Thompson had the 28th game with three (or four) home runs in Dodgers history, and the first since Mookie Betts on August 13, 2020.

Honorable mention goes to Will Smith, who drove in five runs with a 1.369 OPS; to James Outman for homering in his first game at Dodger Stadium and reaching base more than half the time; and to Miguel Vargas, who reached base 10 times in his 13 trips to the plate.

Pitcher of the week

Dustin May started his season off strong, pitching seven scoreless innings on Friday in the longest start of his career. Much of the talk after the game was how May compared to his days before Tommy John surgery in 2021.

“I feel pretty close. I don’t know what the difference would be between before and right now,” May said. “Everything’s been feeling pretty in line, so I’ve just gotta keep going.”

“I think he’s even better than he was before,” Roberts said. “I think the delivery is as consistent as I’ve ever seen it.”

Week 1 results

2-2 record
20 runs scored (5.00 per game)
7 runs allowed (1.75 per game)
.872 pythagorean win percentage

Miscellany

A new weapon? Julio Urías threw 79 pitches in his six innings on opening day. Nine of them were cutters, a pitch he’s never thrown before in the majors. All nine cutters were thrown to right-handed batters, and at 86 mph on average a little more than six mph difference from his fastball. Urías used his cutter to finish off two strikeouts of Kyle Lewis, and induced easy infield outs from Christian Walker and Evan Longoria with the pitch.

New numbers: James Outman wore 77 in his first four games in the majors in 2022. This year he’s wearing number 33. Andre Jackson after wearing 94 the last two seasons is now wearing number 44. “The number has a good history. Hank Aaron, Reggie,” Jackson said. “That’s probably a good omen.”

Long man the short of it: Speaking of Jackson, on Saturday he pitched in his eighth major league game, and recorded his third three-inning save. He’s just the ninth Dodgers pitcher with a save of at least three innings in at least three straight seasons since the save became an official statistic in 1969. “I didn’t even know a three-inning save was a thing until I got the first one. I didn’t know the rules behind that,” Jackson said Sunday. “It’s funny being in a role now, I’ll probably have more opportunities for that, to finish games out.”

Moving on up: Clayton Kershaw began the season with 2,807 strikeouts in his career, most in Dodgers history, and 24th all-time in MLB history. With his nine strikeouts on Saturday against Arizona, Kershaw passed Mike Mussina (2,813) for 23rd place on the strikeout list. Up next is Mickey Lolich, with 2,832 strikeouts.

Put it on the board: The electronic message boards in the Dodgers clubhouse cycles through lineups for both teams plus a schedule for the day. But it also occasionally mixes in a motivational quote of some sort. Friday’s message was “Staying positive does not mean that things will turn out okay. Rather it is knowing that you will be okay no matter how things turn out.” Sunday’s quote was more brief: “The only thing guaranteed to stop me is me.”

Transactions

Thursday: non-roster invitee Jason Heyward was selected to the roster, and Gavin Lux was placed on the 60-day injured list with a torn ACL that will sideline him for the season

Thursday: Ryan Pepiot was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain. Michael Grove will start in his place on Monday.

Thursday: Pitchers Tony Gonsolin, Daniel Hudson, Jimmy Nelson, and Alex Reyes were placed on the 15-day injured list. The Dodgers started the season with nine players on the IL.

Thursday: The 26-man opening day roster was finalized.

Game results

• Thursday: Dodgers 8, D-backs 2
• Friday: D-backs 2, Dodgers 1
• Saturday: Dodgers 10, D-backs 1
• Sunday: D-backs 2, Dodgers 1

Up next

The Dodgers run the Ryan Wheeler gauntlet, finishing off the homestand with two games against the Rockies before another four-game weekend series against the D-backs, this time in Phoenix.