Eighteen innings and 19 hits into their weekend series in St. Louis, the Dodgers have scored just once.
On a wild pitch.
As a result, what began as a mild slump has grown into a full-blown five-alarm crisis for the World Series champions. Yet if manager Dave Roberts is concerned, he was hiding it well after Saturday’s 2-1 loss, his team’s third in four games and fifth in seven tries this month.
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“It kind of goes in waves. And you can’t ride the emotional waves,” he said. “There’s certainly no angst or panic. Frustration certainly. Because you don’t like losing and not driving in runs when you have opportunities.
“We are getting hits. We are getting guys on base. We’re just not cashing in.”
Here’s how bad things have gotten for the Dodgers: the totality of their scoring this weekend came on a Freddie Freeman strikeout in the ninth inning. The ball got away from catcher Pedro Pagés, allowing Shohei Ohtani to score from third to tie it.
Read more: Dodgers place starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin on the injured list
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If you blinked, you might have missed that. For the rest of the weekend, the Dodgers went one for 25 with men in scoring position and stranded 21 runners.
They loaded the bases in the third inning and could not score. They got the first two batters on base in the sixth and could not score. They got two of the first three hitters on in the seventh and could not score. They got two runners on in the eighth and would not score then either.
Could not. Would not. Did not.
The Dodgers came to St. Louis leading the majors in runs and as the only team hitting better than .300 with runners in scoring position. Both those numbers have taken a hit with the Dodgers scoring one or fewer runs in three of their last four games, dropping their average to .232 in June.
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“We have to have a better team approach, especially with the guys in scoring position,” said shortstop Mookie Betts, who had his second consecutive three-hit game. “But again, that’s part of the game. Early on, we did great.”
“The way things are going right now, our margin is small,” Roberts added. “We’ve got to find a way to capitalize on whatever opportunities we do get. Recently we haven’t.”
As a result they wasted a splendid outing from starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who deserved better after scattering four hits and striking out nine in six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 2.20.
“That’s part of game,” Yamamoto said through an…