Dodgers’ areas of need exposed in loss to Nats

LOS ANGELES – After a four-game sweep of the Giants to open the second half of the schedule, the Dodgers were feeling themselves. They had won eight consecutive games and appeared to be clicking on all cylinders. 

Just 48 hours later, the Dodgers look to avoid getting swept at home on Wednesday by the MLB-worst Nationals following a disappointing 8-3 loss on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are 3-8 against the Pirates and Nationals, teams with 40 and 34 wins, respectively, this season.

“Gosh, I don’t know that answer,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, when asked why his team has had some struggles against last-place teams. “We had some opportunities to break through and put up crooked numbers, and we didn’t.”

To Roberts’ point, the Dodgers did have plenty of chances offensively. But they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. In the eighth, with the tying run in scoring position, Max Muncy flied out to left and Gavin Lux grounded out to second base. Los Angeles is 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the first two games in this series.

Though situational hitting has been an issue in this series, Tuesday’s loss was due to a lack of available arms in the bullpen. After Mitch White went a season-high six innings, Roberts leaned on Yency Almonte. The right-hander delivered a scoreless seventh.

The first seven innings went according to plan for the Dodgers. The last six outs were going to be trickier to navigate. With a one-run lead in the eighth inning, the Dodgers turned to left-hander Garrett Cleavinger, who was called up a few hours before the game.

Why was Cleavinger, who hadn’t pitched in the Majors since May 14, the choice in that situation? Roberts said it came down to having relievers Alex Vesia, David Price, Caleb Ferguson and Evan Phillips unavailable in an effort to manage their workloads. Ferguson, who’s coming off Tommy John surgery, hasn’t pitched in back-to-back games this season.

“There were some other guys we were going to stay away from,” Roberts said. “David had gone four of five. Alex, we’re trying to make sure we take care of his workload and manage that. And honestly, I felt like it was a good lane for Garrett. It just didn’t work out. But I really felt good about where we were at that part of the game.”

Though a Luis García two-run homer ultimately gave the Nationals the lead for good in the eighth, it was an error from Lux that got the rally started for Washington. Cleavinger induced a weak grounder to second by Josh Bell to open the inning, but Lux’s errant throw allowed him to reach safely.

Cleavinger then went on to strike out Nelson Cruz and Keibert Ruiz. But García was able to fight off a few pitches before clobbering the go-ahead two-run homer. In the ninth, Roberts said he tried to send Cleavinger back out there in order to eat another inning. Things unraveled, however, as the Nationals scored four runs to take an 8-3 lead.

To make matters worse for the Dodgers, Roberts still used Phil Bickford, whom he was hoping to stay away from.

In the end, losing two in a row to the Nationals likely won’t affect where the Dodgers finish in the standings. But the last two days have exposed a weakness the Dodgers have been able to hide for a large chunk of the season: an injury-riddled bullpen that could use some help before the upcoming Aug. 2 Trade Deadline.

Blake Treinen “didn’t suffer a setback,” Roberts said, but he won’t face live hitters at the end of the week, as originally planned. Treinen won’t be back with the Dodgers until at least late August, and that’s if everything goes as hoped, which hasn’t been a guarantee during his rehab. Tommy Kahnle’s return is unknown. Brusdar Graterol is the high-leverage arm closest to returning, but the Dodgers won’t rush him, given his right shoulder history.

The next seven days will determine just how confident the Dodgers are with their current pitching staff.

“I think that I just look at it as, there’s certain things that are out of my control as far as guys that are healthy and giving guys opportunities or runways to perform,” Roberts said. “And I do believe that every game, every day is a test and we’re evaluating every day. … Every day we’re taking notes.”