Dave Roberts: Dodgers Have To Clean Up ‘Sloppy’ Defense

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent stretch of uncharacteristic poor defensive play continued in a 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

The first of several mishaps occurred in the top of the first inning, when a throwing error by Kyle Tucker led to a second run scoring on Gabriel Moreno’s RBI single.

The Diamondbacks continued to benefit from the Dodgers’ sloppy effort in the fifth inning as a leadoff walk, and Dalton Rushing’s throwing error led to a run scoring on Moreno’s groundout.

Arizona added another run when Edgardo Henriquez uncorked a wild pitch that brought in a run upon replacing Brock Stewart. A throwing error by Tommy Edman later set the table for the Diamondbacks to score two more runs in the top of the sixth.

The Dodgers’ latest subpar defensive effort came just three days after they committed a pair of errors in the eighth inning that led to a 4-3 loss against the Colorado Rockies. They’ve made a total of six errors in their last three games.

However, manager Dave Roberts does not believe the Dodgers’ defensive woes are related to players checking out early with the All-Star break approaching.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Roberts said. “It has been sloppy, two of the last three games. Don’t know the reason for it. Obviously, it never feels good to not convert outs.

“So yeah, I think that it’s one of those things that we’ve got to get better at. That’s just not what we do. I think tonight, the defense, you get count leverage 0-2 on guys and you can’t put them away, you’re giving up hits 0-2, the free bases, all that stuff played a part in us giving up a lot of runs tonight.”

Dodgers’ defensive struggles

The Dodgers have been one of the best defensive teams in baseball this season, so Roberts understandably isn’t worried about their recent struggles becoming a long-term issue.

It’s more likely than not that the Dodgers are just going through a slump, which is something every team has to deal with at some point during the 162-game season.

With one of the most experienced rosters in baseball, it’s a safe bet that the Dodgers will eventually get back on track defensively and return to playing the fundamentally sound baseball that they are known for.