Are Dodgers closers cursed? Tanner Scott blows another lead as LA goes down 4-3

When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Edwin Diaz this past offseason, every MLB fan started freaking out. Last season, LA’s biggest issue was their awful closer situation. After signing one of the premier closers in the league, it seemed like LA found another perfect solution to their very short list of problems.

Unfortunately for them, Diaz has been struggling over the last few days. The star closer struggled in the month of August, blowing three of his last four save attempts this season. That makes it four blown saves in 11 attempts, a much higher mark than last season (three blown saves out of 31). Because of that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to turn towards Tanner Scott as their closer for the next few games.

Prior to being named as the closer again, Scott had posted a 2.24 ERA through 56 appearances. He’s also recorded 19 saves out of his 21 opportunities prior to the most recent Atlanta Braves series. He seemed like the logical choice for the Dodgers as their closer this year.

Unfortunately for them, it seemed like the Dodgers’ closer role is just truly cursed, at least for this month.

Tanner Scott blows yet another lead, highlighting Dodgers’ woes in close games

The Dodgers’ series against the Braves is going to be an important series down the line. With both teams battling for a potential first-round bye, the result of this series could very well decide their fate at the end of the season. That’s why it was important for LA to hold on to their leads, or at least keep a tie going, in their last two games.

Instead, Scott has struggled to maintain the advantage for the Dodgers over the last two games. In Game 1 of the series, LA was in a deadlock against the Braves at the bottom of the eighth inning. Scott was brought in to help preserve the tie before the ninth inning to give them a better chance of winning. Unfortunately, he allowed two hits in the bottom of the eighth inning that gave the Braves the lead. The Dodgers’ bat was silenced at the top of the ninth after that, leading to the loss.

The following game, LA found themselves in a similar situation at the bottom of the ninth inning. Tied at five runs apiece after nine innings, the Dodgers sent Scott back in to close the game. Unfortunately for the team, it was the exact same thing. Scott surrendered two hits, the final one being Ha-Seong Kim’s walk-off hit to give his team the victory.

“I threw too many fastballs, and especially down,” Scott said after the game. “That’s probably not good.”

There’s a lot of issues going on around the Dodgers, yes. One could argue that LA should not have been in a position to blow a game this close: the team had plenty of opportunities to put away the Braves. Now, Atlanta holds the tiebreak over LA, a fact that could bite them back if the former team makes a spirited comeback. The Dodgers have also been mediocre in one-run games (24-23 this year) and have lost five consecutive series against teams in playoff contention.

Scott’s issues shouldn’t trouble the Dodgers too much: his track record over the course of the season is more indicative of his production than these two games. However, there’s definitely some warning signs to look out for: Scott’s limited repertoire could prove to be an issue down the line. Fans should hope that Diaz figures out what’s going wrong with his mechanics to complement their closing crew. Because this time around, they don’t have the luxury of throwing Roki Sasaki out as a closer to save them from their bullpen woes.

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