TORONTO — Don’t tell Dave Roberts it looks like his team has flipped a switch over the past week. But he does see a different urgency from the Dodgers during the six-game winning streak that has followed their desultory 2-6 stretch at home.
“I don’t want to say flip it on. But I think there’s more attention paid to certain situations, certain at-bats, making sure the defense is tightened up. The pitchers are a little more focused on going a little deeper, making better pitches,” the Dodgers manager said before the latest win Saturday. “There’s just a little more urgency. We knew we weren’t playing good baseball. We knew we weren’t playing up to expectations.
“Not to say our guys were complacent. But I don’t think there was enough urgency to play a complete baseball game. I think our guys got tired of playing middling baseball. You see a different edge. Yeah, we’ve seen a different edge these last five or six games, which was very welcome.”
In winning six consecutive games through Saturday, the Dodgers have outscored their opponents (the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays) by a combined score of 43-7. The offense has put up double-digit run totals in three of the six games while the pitching has not allowed more than two runs in a game. The Dodgers have trailed for a total of just four innings during the streak.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Mookie Betts said of any lack of urgency dragging the Dodgers down, nearly to .500 (12-11) a week ago. “But I’m sure someone on the outside could probably see it – not that Doc is on the outside. I know that internally there was no panic or anything. We just keep playing the game. You’re going to go through your ups and your downs. It’s just important to show up every day.”
If the Dodgers were playing “middling baseball” for awhile, that’s just going to happen from time to time, Betts said.
“That’s part of it,” he said. “It’s 162 games. There’s no way you’re going to be on your A-plus game every day. So you’re going to go through your stretches. Every team does. It’s just important to understand it.”
Roberts said it shows in the Dodgers’ offensive approach recently. Saturday was the second consecutive game in which everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit. During the winning streak, they are batting .338 (22 for 65) with runners in scoring position – and they have dropped to seventh in the majors in strikeouts.
“I think, for me, 1 through 9 I see there’s more intent as far as the hit tool, getting a hit, finding outfield grass,” Roberts said. “I think our swings are getting shorter. We’re controlling the zone significantly better. And with that, we’re still finding ways to slug, putting guys on base and drive them in.
“We’ve done a good job this week and as a unit having much better at-bats.”
BULLPEN GAME
The Dodgers will go with another “bullpen game” for Sunday’s series finale in Toronto. Right-hander Michael Grove will start the game.
This will be the Dodgers’ third bullpen game of the season. They won the first two – on April 2 against the San Francisco Giants and April 16 against the Washington Nationals.
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The bullpen game sets up a rotation of James Paxton, Landon Knack and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for their three-game series in Arizona beginning Monday. Each will be on five days’ rest.
ROSTER MOVES
The Dodgers have moved right-hander Kyle Hurt to the 60-day injured list with shoulder inflammation. The move was made in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for right-hander Nabil Crismatt, who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Left-hander Nick Ramirez was sent back to OKC.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Michael Grove, 0-0, 6.00 ERA) at Blue Jays (RHP Kevin Gausman, 0-3, 5.57 ERA), 10:35 a.m. PT Sunday, SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM