Dodgers not sweating D-backs' rare sweep -- but break a relief nonetheless

LOS ANGELES -- It's rare that any team will admit to needing a break. But based on the way they closed out the first half, the All-Star break could not be coming at a better time for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers fell to the D-backs, 5-3, in Sunday's series finale. L.A. ended the first half with an MLB-best 61-36 record, but it was swept in three games heading into the All-Star break -- the first time the Dodgers have been swept this season, and Arizona’s first series sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 2017.

The Dodgers were outscored 23-8 in the weekend series, but they were hurt the most by their own sloppiness, as has been the case for much of this week. Dating back to Tuesday, they've made at least one error in five straight games, losing four of those contests. L.A. made nine errors in that span after having just 24 through its first 92 games.

"End of the day," manager Dave Roberts said, "we gave away too many bases, we didn’t play good defense, and then situationally, we weren’t good offensively. So you do that, and you lose three."

Even after being swept by the D-backs, the Dodgers remain 11 1/2 games ahead of them for first place in the NL West. That divisional lead is larger than any that L.A. had at any point during the previous two seasons.

For the back-to-back champion Dodgers, getting back to the postseason is the ultimate goal. They also want to secure a first-round bye, which they failed to do last year. Leading the division by such a large margin heading into the All-Star break helps in that regard, but it could also lead to complacency, which Roberts has pushed back against.

"We're still battling for the best record in baseball, and we're still battling ourselves in the sense of trying to play good baseball and continuing to play good baseball. That's what we're trying to really shoot for," Roberts said earlier in the weekend. "But we haven't done that well here in the last handful of days. I think the lead, the division lead, I don't think it's as important as just ourselves playing better baseball."

The Dodgers positioned themselves well early on Sunday, with Shohei Ohtani slugging a leadoff home run to open the scoring. L.A. added on another pair on a two-run single from Tommy Edman in the third inning.

While Emmet Sheehan closed out his up-and-down first half on a better note, a pair of errors led to two unearned runs scoring against him. An Andy Pages fielding error helped the D-backs shave the Dodgers' lead to one run in the fifth inning, and the tying run scored on an errant throw from Max Muncy that hit the runner, Geraldo Perdomo, in the sixth.

"The ball took me to my right, so instinctively I just went home," Muncy said. "The runner did his job by getting inside the line, and it just clipped his shoulder. The throw was on line, but not on line because he was in the way."

The Dodgers have prided themselves on their strong defense in the first half. Entering Sunday, their +19 outs above average were tied for the Cardinals for the fourth most in the Majors, and their 55 defensive runs saved ranked second.

The overall body of defensive work has been so strong that the Dodgers are viewing this recent stretch as an outlier, rather than regression.

"You go through slumps both offensively and defensively, mentally," Muncy said. "It's just one of those stretches for us right now, and I think everyone's ready for the break."

The Dodgers played at a 100-plus-win pace in the first half despite never being at full strength. They have taken many hits due to injury, including one major offseason acquisition, closer Edwin Díaz. Their other big addition, right fielder Kyle Tucker, has yet to break out.

Their strong first half may have ended on a sloppy note, but the Dodgers believe their best baseball is still yet to come.

"Losing the last three games of the first half is tough," Tucker said. "But overall, we played pretty well as a team. We got a few All-Stars in here that are gonna go and represent us. Look forward to watching them and getting ready for the second half and continuing what we did in the first."