As a whole, despite taking two out of three in one of the toughest places to visit, Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers offense didn’t have the best of times, twice failing to even crack three runs in a game. Well, the post-All-Star break journey doesn’t get any easier with a stop in Philly that begins with a matchup against the best left-handed pitcher in the National League, Cristopher Sánchez.
This particular task gets much more daunting when you account for Sánchez’s drastic splits this season. The Phillies’
ace will host the Dodgers with as many wins at home (7) as he has earned runs (7). While the left-hander is running a near 5.00 ERA on the road, raised significantly after a horrible start against the Royals a couple of weeks ago, Sánchez has a sub-1.00 ERA in a larger sample in front of his home crowd. One of the things that makes facing Sánchez even more difficult is that even when you think you have him, capitalizing on that opportunity is an entirely separate challenge. Take his last start, for instance: the Tigers had 10 hits against the Phillies ace, and yet multiple double plays on too many ground balls bullied them into scoring just two runs in a 4-2 defeat.
Until Blake Snell is back—with Shohei Ohtani taking a break from pitching for an undetermined period to fully recover his knee—the Dodgers will need a bit more from the likes of Emmet Sheehan, who, in turn, needs a bit more from the offense that has let him down in recent starts. Since the start of June, the Dodgers have won only one of Sheehan’s seven starts, even though the young right-hander has allowed more than three runs just once in this period.
Monday’s game info
- Teams: Dodgers at Phillies
- Ballpark: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
- Start time: 4:10 p.m. PT
- TV: ESPN
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
