Dodgers fail to produce much against Yankees in another loss to a left-hander

At 19 minutes past 9 p.m. on Tuesday, the crowd at Yankee Stadium rose in applause and an opening appeared for the Dodgers. After six innings and change of dominance, New York Yankees starter CC Sabathia was leaving the game. Yankees fans cheered because of Sabathia’s performance; Dodgers fans felt heartened because Sabathia throws with his left hand, and their club cannot solve those pitchers.

It was too late to strike. Subdued by Sabathia, the Dodgers could not break into the Yankees bullpen in a 3-0 defeat. The team’s futility against left-handed pitching has hovered beneath the surface for months, but as October approaches, the team’s Achilles’ heel has drawn more attention.

“We’re not going to look too much into it right now,” first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said. “But we’ve got to do a better job when it comes to the playoffs. That’s it.”

A quiet night from the offense garnered a loss for Ross Stripling in relief. An unsteady performance by rookie starter Julio Urias forced Manager Dave Roberts to activate his bullpen in the fourth inning. In his third inning of work, Stripling surrendered back-to-back home runs to Jacoby Ellsbury and Didi Gregorius to break a scoreless deadlock. Jesse Chavez gave up a homer in the eighth.

According to metrics both basic and advanced, the Dodgers may be the worst team in baseball when it comes to facing left-handed pitchers. Despite success against San Francisco southpaw Madison Bumgarner earlier in the year, Roberts acknowledged the concern.

On Tuesday afternoon, Roberts designated the evening as a test. Sabathia is one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, but age has been unkind to him. At 36, Sabathia is still crafty enough to befuddle opposing lineups. Roberts did not like the verdict on the night: Sabathia held the Dodgers to three hits in 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

“I don’t think we fared too well,” Roberts said. “We had a good plan in place. And he made pitches.”

After an 11-day layoff, Urias lacked his typical command on Tuesday. He issued three walks in 3 2/3 innings in his final start before moving to the bullpen. He departed after spraying fastballs and changeups below the zone as he faced fellow rookie Aaron Judge with two runners aboard in the fourth. Roberts opened up his bullpen, and Louis Coleman induced a grounder to strand the bases loaded.

The bullpen kept the game scoreless. There was little room for error, given the team’s inability to hit left-handed pitchers. Heading into Tuesday, the Dodgers ranked last in the majors in batting average and on-base-plus-slugging percentage against southpaws.

“It’s been a tough year against left-handed pitching,” Roberts said. “The numbers, as they say, don’t lie.”

To Roberts’ eye, the team suffers from an over-zealous approach, able to make contact but on the opposing pitcher’s terms.

“If you look at our right-handed hitters against left-handed pitching, we go out of the zone way too often,” Roberts said. “It’s as simple as that.”

The most significant reason for the team’s struggles in this category stems from the composition of the lineup. Corey Seager, Gonzalez and Joc Pederson all bat left-handed. Yasmani Grandal has hit 22 of his 25 home runs from the left side.

Even Turner, the group’s primary supplier of right-handed slugging, has posted better numbers against right-handed pitchers this season. He entered Tuesday with a .920 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and a mere .627 OPS against lefties. Turner lacked interest in discussing the subject after the game.

“I don’t have [an explanation],” Turner said. “But I’m not going to sit here and answer questions about lefties and righties all night.”

The team made two maneuvers in the last month to bolster the lineup against left-handers. The Dodgers traded for catcher Carlos Ruiz and promoted mercurial outfielder Yasiel Puig. But Ruiz lacks power and Puig lacks discipline at the plate.

Sabathia operated under minimal stress on Tuesday. He issued a leadoff walk to Howie Kendrick to open the game, and a two-out double to Enrique Hernandez in the second. Otherwise, the Dodgers could not advance a runner past second base against him. Sabathia limited his guests to a pair of singles.

The deadlock ended in the seventh. Stripling hung a curveball to Ellsbury and watched in shock as Gregorius homered on an elevated fastball. The lead was too sizable for the Dodgers to overcome, even after Sabathia left the game.

During the final three weeks of the season, the team expects several meetings with left-handers like Bumgarner and his San Francisco teammate, Matt Moore. Roberts expressed his hope that the tide might turn.

“These are our guys,” Roberts said. “And we’ve got to figure it out. That’s the bottom line.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes