Despite the end of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen’s 38-inning scoreless streak, manager Dave Roberts has faith they’ll continue performing at a high level.
“All good things are meant to come to an end,” Roberts said. “And we’ll start another one.”
The Dodgers had the longest streak since Cleveland strung together 38.2 scoreless innings in 2017, and were just 7.2 innings shy of the all-time record set by the Detroit Tigers in 1962. No Dodgers bullpen had maintained a longer streak since the pitcher’s mound moved to its current distance in 1893, per the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Dodgers’ streak came to an end in the top of the seventh inning in Monday’s contest, when reliever Kyle Hurt—who had been nearly unstoppable during the Dodgers’ run—allowed a 431-foot bomb to Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar on his second pitch of the evening.
Prior to that homer, Hurt had allowed just one run all season and hadn’t let a runner cross home plate in his last 14 appearances.
Roberts has plenty of positives to take away from the game as well, as the remainder of his bullpen only allowed one baserunner for the rest of the game.
“(The bullpen) got another two (scoreless) innings under our belt after that homer,” Roberts said. “But yeah, Kyle’s been great for us. Tovar hit a changeup. It was good to see Kyle come back and get that next hitter.”
Where Does the Dodgers’ Bullpen Rank Among the Rest of MLB?
38 innings of scoreless baseball will do a lot for a team’s season-long statistics, and the Dodgers aren’t an exception.
They currently have the best bullpen ERA in baseball, and are the only team in MLB whose relievers have a collective ERA below 3.00. On top of that, the 2.8 fWAR the bullpen has produced is second only to the San Diego Padres, who have the highest-fWAR reliever in MLB: Mason Miller.
Since the Dodgers’ streak started May 13, they have lost just two games and won 10. Their strong bullpen directly correlates to their success, and they’ll hope the singular run they gave up won’t make too large of an impact.
LA has a chance to start a new scoreless streak in their second game against the Colorado Rockies, which comes Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. PT.
Do you think the Dodgers can break their own record this season?