Dodgers manufacture enough offense to slip past

TAMPA, Fla. — Scoring runs at Steinbrenner Field shouldn’t be as exhausting as the Dodgers made it look this weekend.

The spring coaching ballpark, which is doubling as the Tampa Bay Rays’ momentary home this season after Tropicana Field was shredded in an offseason hurricane, has small Yankee Stadium-inspired dimensions that performed even shorter in this weekend’s sweltering Florida summer time heat.

Yet, for 18 innings from the highest of the sixth on Friday evening to the top of the fifth on Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers put nothing but zeros on the scoreboard.

They couldn’t capitalize on the short porch in proper subject. They didn’t run into any low-cost home runs amid circumstances that ought to have helped the ball fly.

During a 3-0 win over the Rays on Sunday, the Dodgers manufactured offense in totally different sorts of methods as a substitute.

In the highest of the sixth, third base coach Dino Ebel determined to wave his arm on an aggressive ship of Freddie Freeman, who chugged to the plate and just beat out a tag to rating on Andy Pages’ RBI single to left.

“When he sent me, I was like, ‘Oh man, I gotta make this,’” Freeman mentioned. “[After] not scoring any runs yesterday, I get it. We gotta be aggressive.”

In the seventh, the Dodgers (65-47) needed a swinging-bunt single from Shohei Ohtani, a one-out stroll from Mookie Betts and a double-steal from both gamers to set up Freeman for one other RBI single.

“As much as we want to hit home runs every time, score 10 runs, we got to win games like this,” Freeman added. “It’s a good sign for us.”

Indeed, in the ninth, the Dodgers sewed up the victory after Betts grinded out a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with an insurance-run-scoring sacrifice fly to middle.

Such outcomes will do little to quell the considerations about the group’s slumping lineup, which has seen a brutal efficiency in July (when they scored the third-fewest runs in the majors) proceed into the beginning of August.

But on a day Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered 5 ⅔ scoreless innings (in which he struck out six batters without issuing a stroll) and the Dodgers’ bullpen accomplished a second shutout of the Rays (55-58) in three video games (despite a bases-loaded scare in the underside of the ninth against Blake Treinen), it was nonetheless enough to make sure the group returned home from this nine-game street journey with a successful 5-4 report. And, given their current struggles, a little bit of momentum.

“We finally built some innings, situational hitting was good, and we got some key hits,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “This is the last one of these long [road trips]. … But 5-4, I’ll take it.”

The Dodgers’ ongoing search for offense included one other twist on Sunday morning. Two weeks after flipping Ohtani and Betts at the highest of the batting order, Roberts reversed course by returning Ohtani to the highest spot and dropping Betts — who has remained mired in his season-long stoop — into the two-hole.

Early on, the outcomes weren’t promising.

Betts grounded into a double-play in the first inning, immediately after Ohtani had led off with a stroll.

In the fifth, the Rays deliberately walked Ohtani to put two aboard in entrance of Betts. But he flied out to middle to finish the inning, extending his current hitless streak to 16 at-bats.

“It’s kind of just trying to figure out what’s best short term,” Roberts mentioned of the lineup adjustment, while remaining undecided on how the batting order will look in the approaching days. “With [Teoscar Hernández, who got an off day] not being in there, this was the best lineup for today.”

Roberts hinted that more tinkering may occur once Max Muncy returns from the injured record, which may occur as soon as Monday — particularly after infielder Tommy Edman left Sunday’s recreation with a sprained proper ankle, which is able to seemingly land him on the injured record as he continues to battle season-long ankle troubles.

“I’m just trying to play the game hard, take advantage of certain situations,” mentioned Edman, who immediately winced in ache after rounding first base on a single in the fifth inning. “But it’s tough to do that when I don’t feel I have the stability I need. That is frustrating and it kind of takes away a part of my game.

With Betts, Roberts also left open the possibility of dropping him further down the batting order, as he continues to search for answers to his career-low .233 batting average.

“I’ve thought about it,” Roberts mentioned. “I think it’s a totally fair question. I’m just trying to figure out what would be best for him, for the team. But yeah, I’ve thought about it.”

For now, however, the Dodgers are clinging to what positives they will.

Ohtani entered Sunday in a current skid that included 20 strikeouts in his final 10 video games, but managed to attain base 4 complete instances to go along with two steals.

Freeman stayed scorching with his second three-hit efficiency of the journey, raising his batting average (which had slipped to .292 just a week in the past) back up to .306. Only teammate Will Smith’s .324 mark is healthier this season in the National League.

And by the top of the day, even Betts had pitched in with some much-needed contributions.

His seventh-inning stroll was one of 5 the Dodgers drew, in a reversal of their walk-less efficiency in Saturday’s shutout loss.

Then in the ninth, Betts took one of his best at-bats of the complete street journey, fouling off 4 consecutive two-strike pitches from Rays reliever Griffin Jax before lifting a 372-foot drive to middle for his sacrifice fly.

“No real results,” Betts mentioned after yet one other hitless day. “But I’m just glad I helped the team.”