TAMPA, Fla. — Scoring runs at Steinbrenner Field should not be as hard as the Dodgers made it look this weekend.
The spring training ballpark, which is doubling as the Tampa Bay Rays’ temporary home this season after Tropicana Field was shredded in an offseason hurricane, has small Yankee Stadium-inspired dimensions that played even shorter in this weekend’s sweltering Florida summer heat.
Yet, for 18 innings, from the top of the sixth on Friday night to the end of the fifth on Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers put nothing but zeros on the scoreboard.
They couldn’t capitalize on the short porch in right field. They didn’t run into any cheap home runs amid conditions that should have helped the ball fly.
During a 3-0 win over the Rays on Sunday, the Dodgers manufactured offense in different kinds of ways instead.
In the top of the sixth, third base coach Dino Ebel decided to wave his arm on an aggressive send of Freddie Freeman, who chugged to the plate and just beat out a tag to score on Andy Pages’ RBI single to left.
“When he sent me, I was like, ‘Oh man, I gotta make this,’” Freeman said. “[After] not scoring any runs yesterday, I get it. We gotta be aggressive.”
In the seventh, the Dodgers (65-47) needed a swinging-bunt single from Shohei Ohtani, a one-out walk from Mookie Betts and a double-steal from both players to set up Freeman for another RBI single.
“As much as we want to hit home runs every time, score 10 runs, we got to win games like this,” Freeman added. “It’s a good sign for us.”
Indeed, in the ninth, the Dodgers sewed up the victory after Betts grinded out a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with an insurance-run-scoring sacrifice fly to center.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws during the first inning of a win over the Rays in Tampa, Fla.
(Jason Behnken / Associated Press)
Such results will do little to quell the concerns about the team’s slumping lineup, which has seen a brutal performance in July (when they scored the third-fewest runs in the majors) continue into the start of August.
But on a day Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered 5 ⅔ scoreless innings (in which he struck out six batters without issuing a walk) and the Dodgers’ bullpen completed a second shutout of the Rays (55-58) in three games (despite a bases-loaded scare in the bottom of the ninth against Blake Treinen), it was nonetheless enough to ensure the team returned home from this nine-game road trip with a winning 5-4 record. And, given their recent struggles, a little bit of momentum.
“We finally built some innings, situational hitting was good, and we got some key hits,” manager Dave Roberts said. “This is the last one of these long [road trips]. … But 5-4, I’ll take it.”
The Dodgers’ ongoing search for offense included another twist on Sunday morning. Two weeks after flipping Ohtani and Betts at the top of the batting order, Roberts reversed course by returning Ohtani to the top spot and dropping Betts — who has remained mired in his season-long slump — into the two-hole.
Early on, the results weren’t promising.
Betts grounded into a double-play in the first inning, immediately after Ohtani had led off with a walk.
In the fifth, the Rays intentionally walked Ohtani to put two aboard in front of Betts. But he flied out to center to end the inning, extending his recent hitless streak to 16 at-bats.
“It’s kind of just trying to figure out what’s best short term,” Roberts said of the lineup adjustment, while remaining undecided on how the batting order will look in the coming days. “With [Teoscar Hernández, who got an off day] not being in there, this was the best lineup for today.”
Roberts hinted that more tinkering could happen once Max Muncy returns from the injured list, which could happen as soon as Monday — especially after infielder Tommy Edman left Sunday’s game with a sprained right ankle, which will likely land him on the injured list as he continues to battle season-long ankle troubles.
“I’m just trying to play the game hard, take advantage of certain situations,” said Edman, who immediately winced in pain after rounding first base on a single in the fifth inning. “But it’s tough to do that when I don’t feel I have the stability I need. That is frustrating and it kind of takes away a part of my game.”
With Betts, Roberts also left open the possibility of dropping him further down the batting order, as he continues to search for answers to his career-low .233 batting average.
“I’ve thought about it,” Roberts said. “I think it’s a totally fair question. I’m just trying to figure out what would be best for him, for the team. But yeah, I’ve thought about it.”
For now, however, the Dodgers are clinging to what positives they can.
Ohtani entered Sunday in a recent skid that included 20 strikeouts in his last 10 games, but managed to reach base four total times to go along with two steals.
Freeman stayed hot with his second three-hit performance of the trip, raising his batting average (which had slipped to .292 just a week ago) back up to .306. Only teammate Will Smith’s .324 mark is better this season in the National League.
And by the end of the day, even Betts had pitched in with some much-needed contributions.
His seventh-inning walk was one of five the Dodgers drew, in a reversal of their walk-less performance in Saturday’s shutout loss.
Then in the ninth, Betts took one of his best at-bats of the entire road trip, fouling off four consecutive two-strike pitches from Rays reliever Griffin Jax before lifting a 372-foot drive to center for his sacrifice fly.
“No real results,” Betts said after yet another hitless day. “But I’m just glad I helped the team.”