After a break-even road trip against a pair of teams on the rise, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be in search of more clutch offense when they open a three-game home series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
The Dodgers won two of three at Pittsburgh last week then dropped two of three against the Chicago White Sox over the weekend.
Los Angeles fell by a 6-4 score on Sunday while going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers went a combined 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position during their two losses in the series.
While All-Star catcher Will Smith (neck) went on the injured list when the road trip began, shortstop Mookie Betts is coming around at the plate after working through an oblique injury that cost him more than a month of playing time.
Betts was batting .181 through Friday’s game then had three hits with three runs Saturday and had a home run among his two hits on Sunday to raise his average to .204.
“Mookie has been trending the right way for sure, but I think just the quality of contact is way up for (him),” Dodgers interim manager Danny Lehmann said. “Even some of his outs in the (White Sox) series were good, really hard-hit barreled balls into the outfield.”
Lehmann took over as manager Sunday, with Dave Roberts set to return Monday after attending his daughter’s graduation from Stanford.
The Dodgers are set to send left-hander Eric Lauer (2-5, 5.47 ERA) to the mound Monday, while the Rays will turn to right-hander Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.43).
Lauer has been a key addition after he was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays and acquired in a trade for cash.
In three starts with his new club, Lauer is 1-0 with a 2.76 ERA that included a duel against Paul Skenes at Pittsburgh on Tuesday when Los Angeles walked away with a 12-3 victory. He is 1-3 lifetime against the Rays with a 6.93 ERA in eight appearances (five starts).
Martinez has thrived in his return to a full-time starter in his first season with the Rays. He had his worst start of the season June 3 when he gave up six runs over four innings against the Detroit Tigers, then rebounded to hold the Boston Red Sox to three runs over seven innings in a victory on Tuesday.
“You want to limit the bad (outings), right?” Martinez said. “Nothing we had to dissect too heavily. Just going back to, or continue to do, what we do best and attack in the zone and force some contact.”
Martinez helped the Rays to a three-game home sweep of the Red Sox, but they barely avoided a road sweep at the hands of the last-place Los Angeles Angels by salvaging the finale of the matchup 8-3 on Sunday.
Junior Caminero hit a tie-breaking two-run home run to start a five-run eighth inning for the Rays, while Victor Mesa Jr. added his own two-run homer in the frame. The victory came after Tampa Bay was outscored 12-3 over the first two games of the matchup.
Since the Dodgers defeated the Rays in the 2020 World Series, the teams have met in a regular-season series three times, with Los Angeles winning five of the nine games.
–Field Level Media
