Justin Wrobleskis struggles lead to Dodgers

PHOENIX — It’s no secret that the Dodgers haven’t performed their best baseball over the last 9 days. But during their 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, they exacerbated the pattern.

Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski remained in a rut, giving up 4 runs (three earned) in 3⅓ innings. The two-run homer he surrendered to Diamondbacks swap hitter Ketel Marte in the first inning was the ninth home run he has given up in three begins.

Before his current struggles, Wrobleski hadn’t surrendered more than three homers in three video games this season.

He left a fastball belt-high to Marte, who entered Sunday with a .913 OPS against left-handed pitchers. Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field nook.

After Wrobleski’s last start, supervisor Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (70-48) would look into whether or not the left-hander could be tipping pitches, but he said before the sport Sunday that those suspicions appeared “unfounded.”

“I’m just not good enough right now,” Wrobleski said. “It’s kind of what it comes down to. It’s really frustrating. Execution just hasn’t been as good. I feel like [Sunday] just wasn’t good enough. And, again, I’ve got to be better. … I’m not the type to give up. So I’m ready to bear down. This is kind of where you can go two ways, and I’m excited to keep working, and I’m excited for my next one.”

While Wrobleski clearly wasn’t at his best, giving up six hits and three walks, errors on protection didn’t help his trigger.

Wrobleski might have gotten out of the first before giving up a home run, but baserunner Geraldo Perdomo efficiently broke up a potential double play, crossing in entrance of shortstop Mookie Betts’ sight line as he tried to throw around him.

“Very weird play, but it’s not obstruction,” Roberts said. “But next time, I think we’ve just got to throw through because it wasn’t impeding, but it sort of was intentional.”

The next inning, Wrobleski fielded a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Waldschmidt, but his throw to first was high and broad, permitting a run to rating and placing Waldschmidt into scoring place.

“That’s a play that he’s got to make,” Roberts said.

Later in the inning, though the run would have seemingly scored anyway, the normally strong relay mixture of heart fielder Andy Pages and Betts ended with Betts throwing over catcher Ben Rortvedt.

The Dodgers’ offense, in the meantime, went down in order in the first two innings. Betts made the best contact, but his opposite-field fly to the warning monitor discovered leather-based.

The relaxation of the way in which, the Dodgers tightened up their protection, and their bullpen shut down the Diamondbacks (63-56). The Dodgers’ lineup strung together hits to rating on Pages’ third-inning double and Kyle Tucker‘s sixth-inning triple. But they still misplaced for the eighth time in 9 video games.

“This series it was very clear that we weren’t hitting the fastball and we were exposing ourselves to the changeup with the secondary, specifically,” Roberts said before the Dodgers left for L.A., where they’ll open a seven-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals. “Are the Royals going to exploit the fastball that we’re not hitting and the changeup below? I don’t know. But we have to make adjustments. I think for me that’s sort of what I see as a group — we’re just not making adjustments.”

Here are three other takeaways from the Dodgers’ 1-5 street journey:

Hitting into double performs

The Dodgers have grounded into an MLB-leading 99 double performs, including one in the eighth inning Sunday.

Part of that has to do with how often the Dodgers get on base. Entering Sunday, they led the majors in on-base proportion (.339). But hitting into double performs has been a major wrongdoer behind the Dodgers’ current offensive struggles.

“It’s not age,” Roberts said. “It’s not about putting guys in motion, because you start doing things just to do things. And when a guy swings and misses and gets thrown out by 10 feet, that’s a bad process.

“You have to layer it on who the hitter is, the contact ability; who the pitcher is, the swing-and-miss rate; who the runner is. So there’s a lot of people that can look at the rate that we hit into double plays and have thoughts, but they’re not thought through.”

Roberts pointed instead to the batter’s strategy at the plate.

“My thought is our guys need to do a better job at understanding what the pitcher is trying to do,” Roberts said.

Back end of the bullpen

Dodgers nearer Edwin Díaz delivers in the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks on Saturday.

(Mike Christy / Getty Images)

Setup man Tanner Scott and nearer Edwin Díaz weren’t accessible out of the bullpen after pitching Friday and Saturday.

Scott’s velocity has fluctuated over the past week, but Roberts said the Dodgers haven’t yet discovered an rationalization for the pattern.

Díaz recorded blown saves in each recreation. Still, Roberts famous his depth Saturday, after Díaz gave up the lead with back-to-back triples.

“I don’t know if it’s just, you want to be perfect, you’re trying to get your feet under you, you’ve been in rehab mode a lot,” Roberts said. “But this is something I think can be a springboard for outings to come.”

For the Dodgers’ bullpen to perform successfully, they need Díaz to flip around his injury-disrupted season (10.80 ERA in 12 appearances).

Home candy home

Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal delivers against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 4.

(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

For the first time, the Dodgers are set to roll out their new one-two punch of two-time Cy Young winners. Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his home debut at Dodger Stadium on Monday against the Royals, adopted by Blake Snell’s return from the injured checklist Tuesday.

“On one side of it, you feel it as the home team because you feel the confidence of who you’re running out there,” Roberts said. “But on the other side, it seems daunting when you look at the probables and you see these Cy Young guys back to back. It’s a lot to take in as an offense. So it feels really good to have those two guys on our side.”

Along with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the top of the rotation, the trio has the potential to be even more impactful in the postseason.

“I think you have to win with starting pitching,” Roberts said of the playoffs. “You really do. I know in ‘24 we did it a different way, but starting pitching is kind of your backbone.”