The Dodgers dropped the final game of the series in Minneapolis solely because the bottom of the lineup is absolute rubbish. James Outman, who broke out for his first two homers of the year in the first two gmes, did get a hit today, raising his average to .186. But Kiké Hernandez was 1-for-4 with a K in the six hole; Miguel Rojas (also with two HR on the year) was 0-for-2 with a K for a .278 average; and Austin Barnes was 0-for-3 at the bottom of the order, with 2 Ks and what was almost a game-ending GIDP (Dodgers challenged and won, but Mookie Betts popped out to end the game).
The Dodgers went 1-for-7 with RISP, and that included a late-game pinch-hitting appearance from Chris Taylor, batting .037 (1 hit in 27 AB this year), who promptly struck out. Taylor used to take a lot of walks to partially offset his diminished batting skill the last two years, but these days he is striking out over 50% of the time (14 Ks in 27 AB). All those off-season attempts of Taylor trying to level out his swing (rather than uppercut it) do not seem to be paying off.
Bobby Miller was servicable through four innings and 73 pitches, yielding five hits and 2 ER (3 BB and 4 Ks). Alex Vesia gave up another HR to Edouard Julien, his second of the day, which ended up being the game-winning run. Michael Grove had 4 Ks in 2.1 IP and Joe Kelly had a scoreless eighth inning.
But we should have done better this series; we should have swept. We get a day off tomorrow before hosting the Padres at home this weekend.
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