Can the Dodgers just play a complete team game for once?

The Dodgers didn’t win the first game of their series, but they looked better overall than they usually do on the first game of a road trip.

Well, the offense did anyway.

After Clayton Kershaw had that terrible first inning, allowing four runs with an uncharacteristic number of walks, I personally thought that was that. And when they had the bases loaded with no outs and only managed to get one run plated, again I thought, well that is that. I’ve seen that film before, and I didn’t like the ending.

But the offense continued to battle back, and ended up scoring seven runs, the most they’ve scored to start a series home or away since the first one after the All-Star Break against the San Francisco Giants. The problem was that the pitching staff gave up nine.

The starting pitching has been what has been keeping them in games. Kershaw had a 1.88 ERA in the month of August. He was due for a clunker I suppose and once he got through that first he was almost unhittable. The Dodgers ended up trying the game while he was still on the mound. Then Edgardo Henriquez allowed three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Dodgers scored three more runs after that, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to overcome what the bullpen had allowed.

So. When in the team finally going to start hitting on all cylinders? Or at least mostly together? One could say once the team is all back and finally healthy. But there’s a very good chance that might not be the case when the playoffs arrive. And we’ve all seen that film before, too.

But thankfully, this team is more healthy than other seasons, when we were left with half a Kershaw and half a Lance Lynn and some shoestring to tie it all together. This team just needs to play like it can and they’ll be ok. Will they ever get there? Remains to be seen.

Wednesday’s pitching matchup

The Pirates are sending Braxton Ashcraft to the mound on Wednesday, a 6’5” righty with a 2.58 era and a 4-2 record. He’s only allowed two earned runs in his last three outings, totaling 15.2 innings.

Ashcraft is another flame throwing Pirates rookie, although his accent hasn’t been as fast as Paul Skenes or Bubba Chandler. He was drafted seven years ago, but had to endure both the Covid season and a Tommy John surgery on his journey to the bigs.

Ashcraft relies mainly on his slider and fastball, using the slider 33.6% of the time. He has a high release point for his delivery, and that delivery isn’t modified by what particular pitch he’s throwing, making it harder for the batter to see what’s coming. Neither his walk rate nor strikeout rate are very high, as Ashcraft likes to attack the plate. The key to the Dodgers success against him will be if they are able to punish his mistakes.

For the Dodgers, it is Shohei Ohtani day and yours truly will be making the five hour drive out to Pittsburgh to see him. Ohtani is coming off one of his best starts of the season, striking out nine and garnering his first win as a Dodger. Hopefully, I will get to see his second.