{"id":131363,"date":"2025-09-04T04:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/131363\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T04:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:17:16","slug":"weve-got-to-find-ways-to-win-inconsistency-haunts-dodgers-again-in-loss-to-pirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/131363\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’ve got to find ways to win.’ Inconsistency haunts Dodgers again in loss to Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now is the time, Dodgers<\/a> manager Dave Roberts believes, for his team\u2019s intensity to rise.<\/p>\n

And if the external pressures of a tight National League West race, postseason seeding implications and a looming World Series title defense in October don\u2019t do it, then maybe, he hopes, increased internal battles for playing time will.<\/p>\n

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For a while on Tuesday night, in a series opener against the perpetually rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers showed fight. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in an ugly first inning, but the lineup clawed its way back to even the score \u2014 thanks, in part, to a 120-mph rocket of a home run from Shohei Ohtani in the third, his 46th of the season and 100th as a Dodger and a tying solo blast from Andy Pages in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Kershaw, meanwhile, settled down to get through five innings without any more damage, retiring 13 of his final 15 batters to put the Dodgers in position for a come-from-behind win.<\/p>\n

Instead\u2026<\/p>\n

Read more: What’s behind Clayton Kershaw’s pitching revival in his 18th season? ‘The bowl’<\/a><\/p>\n

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The bullpen faltered, with Edgardo Henriquez (who hadn\u2019t given up a run in his first 12 outings this year) and Blake Treinen (who had finally started looking like himself again after an early-season elbow injury) combining for three runs conceded to break the tie in the sixth.<\/p>\n

The lineup couldn\u2019t overcome another big deficit, scoring twice in the seventh only for the Pirates to get the runs back in the next two innings.<\/p>\n

And once more, the Dodgers fell to a team miles behind them in the standings, losing 9-7<\/a> at PNC Park to drop their 10th game out of the last 14 against opponents with losing records this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were different points in the game that we showed some life,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd then, unfortunately, we just couldn’t kind of put up that zero to build off of it.”<\/p>\n

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Still, the Dodgers\u2019 inability to beat bad teams has underscored a persistent issue with the club.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been inconsistent, struggling to stack clean performances or any semblance of an extended winning streak. They\u2019ve at times lacked urgency, failing to pull away from the slumping Padres in the division<\/a> or get back in position for a top-two NL playoff seed<\/a> (which would give them an all-important first-round bye in the postseason).<\/p>\n

For all their efforts to rally on Tuesday, they also saw each of their three outfielders fail to snag tough but catchable balls, an eighth-inning wild pitch by Anthony Banda led to one key insurance run and a general lack of execution cost them in other key spots (like when they managed only one run from a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second).<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we didn\u2019t play well. We all know that,\u201d shortstop Mookie Betts said. \u201cDon\u2019t have to necessarily have a team come-to-Jesus [moment] about it. We\u2019ve just got to find ways to win games. There\u2019s no secret formula about it. It doesn\u2019t matter if a team\u2019s below .500 or above .500. Especially right now, we\u2019ve got to find ways to win games. We\u2019re not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Still, neither a soft spot in the schedule nor the realities of the calendar has remedied that issue.<\/p>\n

Thus, Roberts highlighted another potential solution in his pregame address \u2014 acknowledging that players who don\u2019t step up their performance soon could see their playing time get cut as the roster returns to full health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got some guys coming back, and guys are gonna get opportunities,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAs we get into September, where all these games certainly matter, you got to have guys that you trust.”<\/p>\n

On Monday, when MLB rosters expanded to 28 players, the Dodgers (78-60<\/a>) activated two key pieces from the injured list: Infielder Hyeseong Kim, who had been out since late July with a shoulder injury; and reliever Michael Kopech, who had been limited to eight appearances this year because of arm troubles and a meniscus surgery in his knee.<\/p>\n

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Next homestand, more reinforcements could be on the way, with Max Muncy and Tommy Edman beginning rehab assignments with triple-A Oklahoma City this week.<\/p>\n

Before long, the Dodgers’ long-shorthanded depth chart could suddenly be crowded. And as a result, tough decisions could loom in left field, at second base and in the bullpen \u2014 forcing the issues for a number of players at various spots on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think just kind of naturally it raises the level of performance and intensity,\u201d Roberts said, pointing to veteran infielder Miguel Rojas as one example of someone who is \u201cfighting for playing time\u201d with recently improved play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tip my cap to him,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI\u2019m expecting that from a lot of other guys as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read more: Dodgers Dugout: What to do about Tanner Scott?<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberts said Edman will play mostly center fielder during his rehab stint, something he had been unable to do earlier this season while battling an ankle injury. Once he\u2019s back, that means someone such as Michael Conforto (who went 0 for 3 with a walk Tuesday to dip to .189 on the season in batting average) could drop to the bench, leaving the corner outfield spots for Pages and Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n

In the infield, Kim will likely figure in at second base (though could also kick out to left field, where he saw time during his own recent rehab assignment). That will create one more slice in an infield pie that is already being divvied between Rojas, Kik\u00e9 Hernandez and Alex Freeland. Once Muncy is back at third, at-bats will be at even more of a premium.<\/p>\n

The same situation could unfold in the bullpen, which will also get Alex Vesia and Brock Stewart back this month from their injuries. That will raise the pressure on struggling offseason signings Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to continue earning leverage opportunities.<\/p>\n

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How it all shakes out remains unclear.<\/p>\n

But where there are more options, the Dodgers believe, better production \u2014 and intensity \u2014 will follow. To this point, nothing else seems to be consistently raising the team\u2019s level of play.<\/p>\n

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now is the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes, for his team\u2019s intensity to rise. And if the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[36410,19293,8971,4290,8973,41072,9307,4284,4279,25861,83003,4294,66346,19294,3963,4293,19289,18559,363,4286,9886,2240,83004,3956,99,8967,4289,8968],"class_list":{"0":"post-131363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-freeland","9":"tag-alex-vesia","10":"tag-andy-pages","11":"tag-anthony-banda","12":"tag-blake-treinen","13":"tag-brock-stewart","14":"tag-clayton-kershaw","15":"tag-dave-roberts","16":"tag-dodgers","17":"tag-edgardo-henriquez","18":"tag-gene-j-puskar","19":"tag-hyeseong-kim","20":"tag-kike-hernandez","21":"tag-kirby-yates","22":"tag-max-muncy","23":"tag-michael-conforto","24":"tag-michael-kopech","25":"tag-miguel-rojas","26":"tag-mlb","27":"tag-mookie-betts","28":"tag-pirates","29":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","30":"tag-seventh-inning","31":"tag-shohei-ohtani","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-tanner-scott","34":"tag-teoscar-hernandez","35":"tag-tommy-edman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}