Dodgers struggle against left-handed pitching again in 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies

The prospect of panic amused Scott Van Slyke. He stood inside the Dodgers clubhouse after a 2-1 loss to Colorado, a defeat at the hands of a left-handed pitcher, a game in which he was one of only three batters to record a hit against rookie starter Kyle Freeland.

After floundering against left-handers all last season, the players understand the possibility of an Achilles’ heel. They scoff at the prospect of succumbing to it just yet.

“We understand that it’s probably going to be a grind that day to get runs,” Van Slyke said. “But it’s the second game.”

It is, and yet it feels larger. The 2017 Dodgers marketed themselves as a reconstituted, refurbished version of last year’s group. The group has the same virtues — fearsome slugging from the left side of the plate, a rotation headlined by Clayton Kershaw, an extraordinary amount of depth — and the same flaws. Through five games this season, the virtues and the flaws remain unchanged.

Facing Freeland on Friday, the Dodgers (3-2) scraped together a run in six innings. That outpaced their performance earlier in the week, when left-handed Clayton Richard blanked them for eight innings. Manager Dave Roberts did not view this as significant progress.

“We really didn’t threaten all game,” he said. “But if you look at this game, we really didn’t hit the right-handers, either. It’s one of those things that, until we change it, that’s going to be the talk.”

Handcuffed by Freeland, the Dodgers squandered chances against right-handed relievers in the seventh and eighth. A left-handed reliever, Jake McGee, struck out the side in the ninth.

The paltry output obscured an encouraging effort from Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was pitching for only the second time since 2014. Ryu limited Colorado to two runs in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and maintained his fastball velocity, which often evaporated when he stressed his surgically repaired left shoulder last season. He still exited with responsibility for a loss.

Ryu did not treat the afternoon as a milestone worthy of celebration. He excoriated himself for allowing his pitch count to rise early in the game. He felt disappointed he could not complete five innings. His health, he said, was the only “silver lining.”

“I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort in my shoulder, which is always a great sign,” Ryu said. “After this game, I’ll try to build up more innings and do a better job.”

The Rockies tagged Ryu for a run in the first inning. A pair of ground ball singles put runners at first and second. Up came third baseman Nolan Arenado, the two-time All Star. Ryu fed him a fastball at the waist. Arenado roped a run-scoring double into the left-field corner. Roberts considered this pitch Ryu’s only notable mistake.

The pressure shifted to the offense. The group had already squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the first inning. After a single by Justin Turner and walks from Yasiel Puig and Van Slyke, Yasmani Grandal bounced out. Two innings later, Arenado robbed his guests.

A few minutes before the game, Arenado received a plaque commemorating his Gold Glove for 2016. He added to his early resume for a repeat performance in the third. After a two-out double by Turner, Puig smacked a grounder. Arenado sprawled to smother the baseball and rose in time to throw Puig out at first.

Arenado was protecting the pitching line of Freeland, a 23-year-old Denver native who was the eighth-overall pick in the 2015 draft. Freeland finished 2016 with a 3.91 earned-run average for triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado slotted Freeland for this assignment because of his team’s difficulty disarming left-handers. On Friday he balanced a 92-mph fastball with changeups and backdoor sliders.

“He’s got a good arm,” Van Slyke said. “He mixes pitches up well.”

Roberts stacked his lineup with seven right-handed hitters, plus Grandal, his switch-hitting catcher. Joc Pederson was the lone left-handed hitter. In the lineup were Logan Forsythe and Franklin Gutierrez, the two offseason pickups designed to defuse left-handers. Forsythe struck out three times. Gutierrez struck out twice.

Van Slyke started at first base for the first time this season. In the fourth inning, he doubled to lead off, took third on a bunt by Grandal and tied the score on a groundout by Enrique Hernandez.

In his only appearance in 2016, Ryu pitched into the fifth inning against San Diego before his arm strength abandoned him. His fastball velocity dipped into the mid-80s. The Padres drummed him out of the game and out of sight for the remainder of the season.

Ryu managed to avoid that sort of battering in Friday’s fifth. He kept his fastball in the workable range of 89-91 mph. “The velocity did hold,” Roberts said.

It was his command that faltered. Rockies catcher Dustin Garneau pounded a belt-high, 89-mph fastball off the left-field pole for a go-ahead solo shot. Ryu exited after a walk and a single, but Ross Stripling struck out Arenado to keep the deficit at one.

There it would remain. Corey Seager came off the bench to single in the seventh. Adrian Gonzalez came off the bench to walk in the eighth. In the ninth, McGee treated Dodgers hitters the way left-handers often treat Dodgers hitters.

“After that first inning,” Roberts said, “there really wasn’t much going on.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

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