Where is the sense of urgency from the Los Angeles Dodgers? Sure, they are in first place in the National League West Division. But the Dodgers don't seem to be putting the hammer down to make sure that first-place position stays true.
The Arizona Diamondbacks got the best of Los Angeles once again on Saturday night, Aug. 30, winning 6-1 over Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow. This loss cannot be totally pinned on Glosnow, though. He went out there and kept Arizona batters offstride.
Glasnow kept the Diamondbacks hitless going into the sixth inning and only allowed three runs. But the Dodgers were not able to put things together on offense.
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Tyler Glasnow, 97mph Fastball (foul) and 89mph Slider (Sword K), Individual Pitches + Overlay.
A typical highlight of the Dodgers recent play was in the fifth inning when Kiké Hernández tried scoring on a fly ball to left field. Hernández tried scoring from third and didn't slide into home plate.
"I feel like that play [on the sac fly] could have changed the momentum of the game. It didn’t go our way," Hernández said. "We’ve come out pretty flat the last two games after the day off. We can’t keep doing this. We have to be more consistent."
Due to that lack of awareness, he was thrown out at home and the Diamondbacks turned away a Los Angeles scoring opportunity.
"Ideally, you gotta be in a better lane for the runner to see you," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, according to Sonaj Chen of MLB.com, "and he just didn't get there in time."
Glasnow did his best to keep the Dodgers in the game until things unraveled in the seventh inning. After the game, he talked about what happened in that moment.
"All my pitches were working early," he said. "That last inning, I just left too many hittable pitches. Nothing was really sharp, and they took advantage of it."
Entering Sunday's action, the Dodgers held a one-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West. Any missteps now and in the coming week could find Los Angeles looking up at San Diego in that top spot, something it wants to avoid at all costs.
The Dodgers will wrap up their three-game series against the Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 31. They get the day off on Labor Day before opening a six-game road trip that takes Los Angeles to Pittsburgh and Baltimore.