MLB Twitter Rips Dodgers' 'Embarrassing' Offense After Game 3 Loss vs. Padres
October 15, 2022
The Los Angeles Dodgers are one loss away from seeing their magical season come to an end in the National League Division Series.
After Friday's 2-1 loss in Game 3 to the San Diego Padres that saw them go 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leave seven men on base, the Los Dodgers find themselves in a 2-1 series hole.
The story of this NLDS thus far has been Los Angeles' inability to execute with runners in scoring position.
The Dodgers opened this series looking exactly like the team everyone saw during the regular season. They scored five runs in the first three innings of Game 1, including going 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Gavin Lux's two-out double in the bottom of the third in Los Angeles' 5-3 win on Tuesday was the last hit the team had with a runner in scoring position. The offense has been held to four runs over the past 23 innings.
Blake Harris @BlakeHarrisTBLAThe Dodgers fall to the Padres and now are one game away from being eliminated. <br><br>The pitching kept them in this game, but the offense looked like something you’d see at a Dodgers Adult Fantasy Camp. <br><br>0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 0 for their last 19.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about the contrast between his team and the Padres when runners get in scoring position following Friday's loss.
Jack Harris @Jack_A_HarrisDave Roberts on the Dodgers' issues w/ RISP:<br><br>"You can see those guys [the Padres] with runners in scoring position are getting more into at-bats, they're using the big part of the field. I think that we're being hyperaggressive early in counts and not staying on the ball."
The Padres haven't been appreciably better than the Dodgers in run-scoring situations in the series thus far. They are only 4-for-35 through three games, including 1-for-10 in Game 3, but the margins in the playoffs are so small that a .114 average can make all the difference.
The Dodgers have made the playoffs every year since 2013. They have only lost in the NLDS three times during that span, most recently in 2019 to the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles won a franchise record 111 games during the regular season, tied for the fourth-most in a single year in MLB history.
One more loss will find the Dodgers going home much earlier than anyone expected. They will send Tyler Anderson to the mound in Game 4 looking to keep their season alive. This will be his first postseason appearance since 2018 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Joe Musgrove will get the start with an opportunity to send the Padres to the NLCS for the first time since 1998. The right-hander pitched San Diego to the Division Series with seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the Wild Card series against the New York Mets on Sunday.
The Dodgers and Padres will play Game 4 at Petco Park on Saturday at 9:37 p.m. ET.