Dave Roberts: Dodgers Can’t ‘Panic’ Amid Offensive Woes

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ offensive struggles continued on Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 walk-off loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

The Dodgers went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base. That followed the team going just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base in a 5-0 loss to the Cardinals on Friday night.

The Dodgers’ recent woes have been uncharacteristic as they are the best hitting team with runners in scoring position this season by many metrics.

However, manager Dave Roberts noted that it is common for teams to have dry spells at various points in the regular season and knows they will get back on track, as seen on SportsNet LA:

“It kind of goes in waves, and you can’t ride the emotional waves. Knowing that each guy is putting in the work and prepared. It’s going to turn. There’s certainly no angst or panic. Frustration, certainly, because you don’t like losing and not driving in runs when you get opportunities. We are getting hits. We are getting guys on base, but we’re just not cashing in.”

As Roberts noted, the Dodgers have been able to reach base against the Cardinals pitching staff with relative ease, as they’ve recorded 19 hits and five walks in the first two games of the series.

The issue has been cashing those runners in, which Roberts believes is a byproduct of the long baseball season. L.A. has also been unlucky at times and that should eventually correct itself as well.

The Dodgers’ loss in their series opener against the Cardinals put them in uncharted territory as they became the first team since 2016 with at least 10 hits and three extra-base hits to not score a run.

Mookie Betts downplays Dodgers’ struggles

Mookie Betts echoed Roberts’ sentiment and said after the loss on Friday that frustrating games are part of baseball.