Dodgers big offense can't cover for pitching woes in Miami
Yesterday at 11:04 PM
by Cary Osborne
Three straight games with nine runs is a rolling offense.
But Dodger pitching was unable to make the nine runs stand on Tuesday.
The Dodgers lost the first game of a three-game series to the National League East last-place-dwelling Marlins in Miami 11–9.
Bobby Miller hasn't been right all month and all summer. He allowed the first three Marlins to reach base on singles. He allowed two runs in the first and second innings.
That was it for him, as he lasted two innings, allowed seven hits and four runs, walked one and struck out two batters.
Three of the hits had a 32% or lower hit probability, two baserunners reached on hits in the infield in the first inning, and Miller allowed only one extra-base hit. However, Marlins batters swung and missed on only two of his 65 pitches.
Miller, after being one of the top rookie pitchers in the National League in 2023 and starting Game 2 of the NL Division Series for the Dodgers, has an 8.52 ERA this season. He has allowed 36 earned runs in 31 innings over his last seven starts.
"Even though I do get into counts I want to be in and sequence the right pitches, there's been hits on some really good pitches as well," Miller said. "It's definitely very frustrating, but I know I'm going to come out of this. I'm going to be working harder than I ever have to come out of this. And there's no doubt in my mind whenver that may be, I'm going to be back better than I ever have."
Dodger starting pitchers have completed five innings once over the last seven games when Walker Buehler went six innings on Sunday in Atlanta. The bullpen fired five scoreless innings on Monday in Atlanta.
But Miami touched up the Dodger relief corps for seven runs over the last six innings on Tuesday.
The Dodger bullpen worked 34 2/3 over the last seven games (nearly five innings per game).
The Dodgers will have more coverage on Wednesday, as manager Dave Roberts said Joe Kelly will return from the injured list. Kelly has been on the IL since Aug. 31 with right shoulder inflammation.
The Offense Is Right
The Dodger offense has scored 25 runs over the last 19 innings and 27 over the last three games. The Dodgers have scored 20 of those runs with two outs.
Max Muncy drove in five runs on Tuesday — all five with two outs. It's a season-high in RBI for Muncy.
Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run in the third inning — his 48th home run of the year.
He is now one home run away from tying Shawn Green (2001) for the Dodger single-season home run record.
Ohtani now has 48 home runs to go with 48 stolen bases.
He now has 11 games to become the first 50/50 player in Major League history and break the Dodger home run record.
Ohtani has 87 extra-base hits — three behind Freddie Freeman's LA Dodgers record of 90 (2023) and seven behind Babe Herman's franchise record of 94 in 1930.
Miguel Rojas hit a solo home run in the fourth inning against his former team. He is riding a nine-game hitting streak (11-for-29, .379).
Where They Stand
The Dodgers (89–62) send rookie Landon Knack to the mound against the Marlins (56–95) on Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. The Dodgers have won at least 100 games in four straight 162-game seasons. They'd have to win the remaining 11 games to continue that streak.
Dodgers big offense can't cover for pitching woes in Miami was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
