Michael Grove rocked by Reds to cap dismal month for Dodgers starting pitchers
The backbone of so many playoff teams, the Dodgers rotation was so out of whack this month that it finished July with a 6.18 ERA, the club’s second-worst mark in any month of at least 15 games since the earned run became an official National League statistic in 1912 and the worst since the Brooklyn Dodgers posted a 7.31 ERA in July 1944.
On the plus side, the Dodgers are off Monday, the final day of July, so their starting pitchers won’t have to suffer another indignity like the one they endured Sunday, when rookie right-hander Michael Grove was rocked for eight runs and 10 hits — three of them homers — in six innings of a 9-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in Chavez Ravine.
It marked the 10th straight Sunday loss for the Dodgers, a stretch of week-opening games in which they’ve been outscored 73-33, and the fourth loss in six games of a homestand in which they’ve been outscored 37-18 by the Reds and Toronto Blue Jays.
Lance Lynn, acquired Friday by the Dodgers, had some of the worst pitching numbers in the majors with the Chicago White Sox. He aims for an L.A. turnaround.
“The offense has done a great job as far as trying to keep us in games, winning games, and I think the bullpen has done a great job,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But yeah, overall, that’s a big number as far as ERA. It’s not sustainable. … We’re kind of finding ourselves behind the eight-ball to start sometimes, and it makes it insurmountable.”
Rookie phenom Elly De La Cruz singled to spark a three-run Reds rally in the first inning and crushed a solo homer to right for a 4-0 lead in the second. Former UCLA standout Matt McLain led off the third with a homer to left, Jake Fraley singled and Joey Votto hit a two-run homer to right to extend Cincinnati’s lead to 7-0.
Grove did well to save some wear and tear on the bullpen by pitching three more innings, and he flashed a plus-slider while racking up a career-high 10 strikeouts, but the Dodgers couldn’t solve Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft, who gave up five hits in six scoreless innings.
“My attack plan wasn’t great early on — I got put on the defensive and had to adjust,” Grove said. “In spurts there were some good pitches, but I got punished because I was leaving pitches over the plate.”
Some rotation reinforcements are on the way. Veteran right-hander Lance Lynn, acquired with reliever Joe Kelly from the Chicago White Sox on Friday, will make his Dodgers debut Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics, and he will be followed in the rotation by Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urías.
Clayton Kershaw, out since late-June because of a sore shoulder, threw 40 pitches to hitters in a three-inning simulated game on Saturday and is scheduled for another simulated game of about four innings Thursday. As long as he remains asymptomatic, Kershaw could return for next week’s series in Arizona.
“We’re obviously excited to have Lance here,” catcher Will Smith said, “and Clayton Kershaw coming back and starting every five days can’t hurt.”
The Dodgers also have one more day before Tuesday’s trade deadline to add a starter, but several potential options, including Max Scherzer, Lucas Giolito and Jordan Montgomery, have come off the board.
“I think I’ve been very candid in saying that we always have room to improve on the pitching side,” Roberts said. “So we’re gonna go with who we have until we have more. That’s kind of the mindset that we have.”
Grove, who is 2-3 with a 6.75 ERA in 14 games, is expected to be demoted to triple-A or the bullpen this week. That leaves rookie right-handers Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan to vie for the final rotation spot.
The hard-throwing Miller has been more consistent, going 6-2 with a 4.37 ERA in 11 starts, striking out 59 and walking 16 in 59 ⅔ innings. Sheehan is 3-1 with a 5.77 ERA in seven starts, striking out 27 and walking 17 in 34 ⅓ innings, and threw five scoreless, two-hit innings in Saturday night’s 3-2 win over the Reds.
On the night the Dodgers honored Orel Hershiser, Emmet Sheehan puts in an impressive performance and Max Muncy homers twice in a 3-2 win over the Reds.
“There’s a lot of things going on, and players nowadays are more in tune with that than they’ve ever been,” Roberts said. “But the bottom line is we need to win, and the best players are going to play, so performance is paramount.”
Pitching isn’t the only concern. The Dodgers also played most of Sunday’s game without three of their top five hitters.
Mookie Betts missed his second straight game because of a sore right ankle, but Roberts expects the dynamic leadoff man to return Tuesday. Smith left the game in the fourth inning after getting hit in the left elbow with a pitch in the first. He suffered a contusion, but X-rays were negative, and he expects to play Tuesday.
J.D. Martinez was in the lineup but was pulled before making a plate appearance because of left hamstring tightness, an injury the Dodgers deemed serious enough to warrant an MRI test.
“I don’t know the answer,” Roberts said, when asked how long he thought Martinez would be out. “He couldn’t run. He couldn’t really swing the bat.”
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