Dodgers Continue to Struggle Against Left-Handed Pitching
By Keaton Moore
The Los Angeles Dodgers failure to hit against left-handed pitching may keep them from finishing the season strong, but they still look to do well against the Washington Nationals in the NLDS.
Despite clinching the NL West division on Sept. 25 and securing their spot in the postseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers lack of success against left-handed pitching is concerning. Although they will face the Washington Nationals’ heavily right-handed pitching, the Dodgers struggled against left-handers in their last five games.
On the verge of sweeping the Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants capitalized on their opponent’s weakness and used primarily left-handed pitching. Madison Bumgarner contributed to his club’s 9-3 victory at the dish and on the mound in the series opener. The leftie held the Dodgers to eight hits, three runs and struck out five through 7.1 innings.
Typically, starting Clayton Kershaw ensures a win for Los Angeles, but his quality pitching was spoiled by left-hander Ty Blach. The rookie tossed eight scoreless frames and held the Dodgers to three hits for his first career win.
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Matt Moore, the final left-hander in the Giants rotation, stands between the Dodgers and their postseason. The Dodgers own good number against Moore, but their weakness against lefties may prove too great.
Bumgarner and Blach’s dominant performances further exposed the Dodgers need to improve against left-handed pitching. Losing back-to-back games in San Francisco knocked the Dodgers down to 22-23 against left-handed starters this season. As a team, they are trailing the Major Leagues with a .633 OPS and .219 batting average against left-handed pitching.
Even the strongest hitters in their lineup are not immune to the club’s left-handed slump. While Corey Seager and Justin Turner are batting over .300 against right-handers, neither of them are hitting higher than .260 against lefties.
Seager, who is 1-7 through two games in San Francisco, leads the team with his .303 batting average. As phenomenal as his rookie season has been, Seager is batting merely .258 against lefties. Likewise, Turner is leading the ball club with 27 home runs and 90 RBIs. However, against lefties he has only hit five home runs and driven in 14 RBIs.
Washington’s heavily right-handed rotation features only one left-hander, Gio Gonzalez, who is 11-11 and owns a 4.57 ERA. Out of the six meetings between these teams in 2016, Gonzalez started once and threw a one-run masterpiece. As it turned out, the Dodgers went 5-1 against the Nationals through the rest of the season, beating both Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark.
Next: Dodgers face an interesting dilemma
Whether or the not their lack of momentum and inability to hit against left-handers will hurt them in the playoffs, facing right-handed pitching could spark a successful postseason for the Dodgers.