Freddie Freeman and Dodgers' offense struggle in loss to Cubs

Cubs catcher Yan Gomes celebrates after the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman struck out to end the game Sunday.

Staff Writer

April 16, 2023 7:24 PM PT

It was former NFL coach Bill Parcells who coined the phrase, “You are what your record says you are,” a quote that perfectly fits an inconsistent and clearly flawed Dodgers team that suffered another frustrating loss Sunday, this one a 3-2 decision to the Chicago Cubs before 52,180 at Chavez Ravine.

The Dodgers, winners of 111 games last season, have lost six of their last nine games, including two of three in the series against the Cubs, to fall to 8-8 on the season. They never know what they’re going to get from an offense that has scored eight runs or more in five wins and two runs or fewer in five losses.

Neither the rotation nor the bullpen is as deep or dominant as it has been in recent years. The defense has been a little spotty, as evidenced by an error that led to an unearned run in the fifth inning Sunday. Opponents have run wild on the Dodgers, stealing 23 bases in 25 attempts, including nine by the Cubs in this series.

“I feel like we haven’t got it going,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said after suffering only the 13th four-strikeout game of his illustrious 14-year career. “When we pitch, we don’t hit. When we hit, we don’t pitch. It’s just been kind of all over the place the first two weeks. We’ve got [5½] more months.”

Sunday’s game ended with Freeman striking out on three pitches, the final one a 91-mph fastball from Brad Boxberger that was well below the zone but called a strike by umpire Sean Barber. That followed an at-bat that ended with Jason Heyward getting rung up on a full-count fastball that was clearly inside.

Freeman also whiffed on a pair of slow curveballs from left-hander Drew Smyly in the third inning with a runner on second and the fifth inning with two on. He struck out on an 85-mph split-finger fastball from Mark Leiter Jr. with two on in the seventh.

Since a four-hit game at Arizona raised his batting average to .429 on April 8, Freeman, a six-time National League all-star and the 2020 NL most valuable player with the Atlanta Braves, is in a four-for-28 slump that has lowered his average to .302. He has one homer and just three RBIs on the season.

“You don’t see him punch three times in a game very often … was it four? Four, yeah,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s out there every day doing his thing. He’s competing and preparing. But he looks a little out of sorts. With him, you take it for granted that he’s going to be locked in every night, but he’s not a robot.”

Freeman isn’t getting much help. Leadoff man Mookie Betts is hitting a very quiet .267 with two homers and six RBIs on the season and went three for 12 against the Cubs, the hits a bloop double, a fly ball lost in the sun for a single and an infield single Sunday.

Chris Taylor heads to first after he hit a homer while Cubs pitcher Drew Smyly, center, and catcher Yan Gomes watch.

Chris Taylor hit a solo homer in the third inning Sunday but is batting .135 with 16 strikeouts on the season. The new middle-infield tandem of shortstop Miguel Rojas (.143) and second baseman Miguel Vargas (.222) hasn’t provided much offense.

The Dodgers scored six runs in three games against the Cubs and hit .168 (16 for 95) with 34 strikeouts in the series.

“One through nine, I think we all expect more consistent at-bat quality,” Roberts said. “There’s times where we look really good and put up big numbers, crooked numbers, and there are other times when there’s a lot of quick at-bats, a lot of weak contact. When you do that, you’re not going to score many runs.”

Compounding their offensive woes are the concussion-like symptoms that sent catcher Will Smith, who hit .333 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 11 games and is one of the team’s most consistent run producers, to the seven-day injured list Sunday.

Smith took two hard foul balls off his facemask in San Francisco last week and felt too sick to play against the Cubs. He will miss this week’s three-game series against the New York Mets and won’t be eligible to return until Thursday.

“Symptomatically, he just doesn’t feel well,” Roberts said. “He felt uneasy and foggy, so coming into Friday we took him through the testing. In the ensuing days, he felt a little bit better, but we just want to be prudent and not run him out there.”

Smith’s replacement, Austin Barnes, snapped an 0-for-18 season-opening skid with a single that put two on in the seventh inning Sunday. Taylor, who walked to open the inning, scored when Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki lost Betts’ fly ball in the sun to cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2.

But Freeman struck out, and after J.D. Martinez reached on an infield single to load the bases, Max Muncy struck out to end the inning.

Dodgers left-hander Julio Urías (3-1) gave up three runs — two earned — and eight hits in 5⅔ innings, striking out six and walking one, to suffer his first loss of the season.

A fielding error by Vargas on Cody Bellinger’s one-out grounder in the fifth led to an unearned run. Bellinger stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Luis Torrens’ infield single, a dribbler toward third that Urías stopped with a sliding grab but, from his backside, threw wide of first base.

“Obviously, nobody wants to make errors, but that happens in the game,” Urías said through an interpreter. “That’s not frustrating. The frustrating part is when they get that hit off you even when it’s weak contact.”

Urías gave up some hard contact in the sixth, which featured back-to-back homers by Patrick Wisdom (402 feet to left field) and Bellinger, who crushed a poorly placed fastball 422 feet into the right-field pavilion for a 3-1 lead. Bellinger hit only two homers in 160 plate appearances against left-handers for the Dodgers last season.

“I wanted it more away,” Urías said of the pitch to Bellinger. “I was trying to attack him on the outer half and missed my spot. We obviously know he has a lot of power. He gave me his best swing, and I paid the price.”

‘We haven’t got it going.’ Dodgers’ offensive woes continue in loss to Cubs

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