Forget Tarik Skubal, Dodgers have to trade for bullpen help

Forget about Tarik Skubal – or at least move him back in the queue.The Dodgers have a major problem they have to address, and it’s not starting pitching.They have to do something about their bullpen.That should be the No.1 priority for Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes between now and the Aug.

3 trade deadline, regardless of how confident they are that Edwin Diaz will perform like an All-Star closer when he returns from an elbow cleanup after the All-Star break.Skubal would be a luxury.A late-inning reliever or two to help them close out games is a necessity.Because the Dodgers are having trouble doing that right now.Don’t be deceived by their 7 ½-game lead in the National League West.

The Dodgers aren’t playing well.Since winning 13 of 15 games, the Dodgers have basically been a .500 team.They’re 6-5 over their last 11 games, and the downturn of their bullpen is the primary reason why.Counting their 9-8 defeat to the Pirates at PNC Park on Wednesday night, a reliever was the pitcher of record in three of their five most recent losses.In that 11-game stretch, the bullpen has posted a 6.88 earned-run average.

Remove a 13-5 loss to the Angels on Sunday in which a short start by Emmet Sheehan forced manager Dave Roberts to deploy six relievers to cover the final 7 ⅔ innings and the bullpen ERA over that span is still 5.12.Dodgers relievers have pitched only 211 ⅓ innings this season, the fewest of any bullpen in the majors.Just a couple of days ago, I wrote how the relatively light workload should help the group avoid the kind of midseason slump it had last year when it topped baseball in innings pitched.This was the same bullpen that pitched a franchise-record 38 consecutive scoreless innings last month.But in the wake of their latest blown lead in the Pittsburgh, these late-inning meltdowns are starting to look less like isolated events and more like part of an unsettling trend.“I think I’m seeing more walks than when we were going real well,�...