CINCINNATI – The Dodgers have cracked down on crime.
Aided by rules changes, the running game became more prominent last season. The Dodgers were slow to adapt and allowed 142 stolen bases in 2023, the fifth-highest total in the majors with just 29 caught stealing.
This year, only the Seattle Mariners have thrown out more basestealers (16) than the Dodgers (15) through Saturday’s games. The 32 stolen bases allowed by the Dodgers is tied for the sixth-fewest in the majors and Will Smith leads all catchers, having thrown out 43 percent (13 of 30) of attempted basestealers against him.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the difference in the pitching staff, not Smith.
“Nothing has changed with Will. It’s the pitchers that have gotten better at holding runners,” Roberts said.
“Will’s always been a good catch-and-throw guy. We just as a staff last year – we just didn’t do a good job of giving him a chance. Now that guys have been varying looks and quickening their times he’s been very successful.”
Pitchers have done a good job being mindful of “that balance of not trying to compromise too much of your stuff, command by being too quick to the plate,” he said.
Roberts acknowledged that the Dodgers “got ambushed early” last season by the impact of the rules changes. They also had Noah Syndergaard in their rotation early in the season. Syndergaard has been notoriously easy to run on throughout his career.
“We got better in the second half,” Roberts said. “And it’s good to see us continue to stick with that. Because I think last year was really front-loaded as far as how bad we were at defending the stolen base.”
With Elly De La Cruz leading the way (a MLB-high 31 stolen bases), the Cincinnati Reds led the majors with 83 stolen bases through Saturday’s games. Seven of those have come in 11 attempts during the first six games against the Dodgers.
De La Cruz had four in the first game of last week’s four-game series at Dodger Stadium. But he went 1 for 19 with 10 strikeouts in the next five games against the Dodgers without a steal attempt.
“Speed. Sheer speed,” Roberts said of the key to De La Cruz’s success on the bases. “It’ll be scary if he can start to get better jumps, start to learn pitchers’ tendencies. But he just outruns the baseball. I think there’s a desire, a fearlessness – but just sheer speed.”
The Dodgers will start right-handers Gavin Stone and Tyler Glasnow in the first two games of their series in New York against the Mets. Each will be on five days’ rest.
Left-hander James Paxton will start Wednesday’s game at Citi Field – on four days’ rest. It will be Paxton’s first start this season without extra rest and only the third where the Dodgers’ starting pitcher had as little as four days’ rest. Stone and Bobby Miller have each made one start on four days’ rest this season.
“It’s not going to be commonplace,” Roberts said. “I think he’ll get six days’ rest (before his next start). But just the next one (on Wednesday), it makes the most sense for everyone, and he’s on board.”
Roberts misspoke following Saturday’s game when he said Shohei Ohtani is “managing” a right hamstring contusion. It is Ohtani’s left hamstring. He suffered the contusion when he was hit by a pickoff throw at first base in the first inning of the Dodgers’ home game against the Reds on May 16. Ohtani came out of the game after two at-bats with the Dodgers losing 7-0.
Roberts said Ohtani is feeling better each day and is probably “right on 90 percent.”
“Just assuming that it will keep getting better, I feel confident that he can kind of play smart and not push it,” Roberts said.
“I talked to him about not trying to steal a base and being smart, and the value of him being in the lineup is everything. So obviously things can happen. But right now, my trust in him that he can manage it is pretty high.”
Going into Sunday’s game, Ohtani was 7 for 34 (.206) since the injury.
“He didn’t do it on a swing. It was getting hit by a ball,” Roberts said when asked if the hamstring issue was affecting Ohtani at the plate. “I don’t think so. But certainly the last couple days, he has missed some pitches, chased a little bit more. But it’s two days of at-bats, so I don’t know if that specifically is the reason.”
Dodgers (RHP Gavin Stone, 4-2, 3.60 ERA) at Mets (RHP Tylor Megill, 0-2, 3.00 ERA), Monday, 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM
