ST. LOUIS -- Three is a streak, as the saying goes. Accordingly, 32 games into the season, the Dodgers are on their first real losing streak.
Right-hander Emmet Sheehan's velocity issues persisted and the bats remained cold as the Dodgers fell, 7-2, in Friday night's series opener against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. For the first time this season, L.A. has lost three straight games, scoring two runs or fewer in each.
The formula was similar to the prior two losses, where the starter -- and the pitching staff as a whole -- had little margin for error because the offense struggled to scratch anything across.
Let's take a look at what's been going on with the Dodgers through three takeaways from their third straight loss:
Sheehan stumbles
Sheehan looked to be hitting his stride in his previous start, when he matched his career high with 10 strikeouts across 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball against the Cubs. But one week later, the 26-year-old right-hander could not keep up that momentum, allowing four runs to the Cardinals in 4 2/3 innings.
While dealing with persistent velocity issues, Sheehan has maintained that he feels healthy. He seemed to have found a way to manage it in his previous few outings, but on Friday, he averaged just 93.4 mph with his four-seamer, a regular-season career low. He threw an 89.7 mph four-seamer, the slowest fastball of his career.
"I don’t know the reason for the fluctuation," manager Dave Roberts said. "But I know he said he felt good."
At the same time, Sheehan still generated plenty of swing-and-miss, falling two shy of his career high with 19 whiffs, 10 of which came on his slider. He struck out eight and did not issue a walk, but he also balked in a run in the first inning and gave up eight hits, including two home runs.
Sheehan may have the stuff to work around his diminished fastball velocity at times, but it remains a concern for the Dodgers. And with Blake Snell's return from the injured list drawing nearer, the competition at the back end of the rotation is heating up.
"There's nothing I can point to to say, 'This is the reason,'" Sheehan said. "We're working really hard on it. We're going to continue to work really hard on it. That's all we can do."
Missed opportunities
Even with Sheehan giving up four runs, this Dodgers lineup is built to do damage. Over the past 10 games, though, they haven't performed to their capabilities.
The Dodgers have scored four or fewer runs in seven of their last 10 games, dating back to April 21. In that span, they have a .739 OPS with runners in scoring position, compared with .812 before then.
On Friday, L.A. went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight on base. Max Muncy's RBI double in the second inning and Kyle Tucker's one-out, bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the sixth were the only times the team was able to push runs across the plate.
"Everybody knows this is not easy -- hitting, being consistent," Teoscar Hernández said. "We just have to go up there trying to have good at-bats. Create situations. Put the ball in play. Get on base. But I think we got unlucky. A lot of guys have been hitting the ball really good, right at people. But we control what we can control, and just leave the rest to baseball.”
Lineup blues
The difficult piece of this for Roberts is that several of his regulars are slumping. Freddie Freeman took a step forward with a two-hit night, and Hyeseong Kim kept his strong start going with a double off the bench. But many others are still finding their swing.
"I think right now, unfortunately, we have a lot more guys that are not swinging the bats well than that are," Roberts said. "And so shuffling the lineup, I just don't think that's a solution right now."
It has been a frustrating stretch for the Dodgers, but they know they're better than how they've performed of late. By sticking to their approach, they are confident they can emerge stronger from this three-game skid.
"I mean, the season's still young. We just passed maybe 100 at-bats," Hernández said. "We're in a good place. We're winning. At the end of the day, that's what matters. We should be winning more games, but like I always said, we're going to go through bad stretches offensively, pitching, defensively. It's part of the game."