As other National League teams deal, Dodgers may stand pat

The Chicago Cubs (starting pitcher Jose Quintana), Washington Nationals (relievers Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson) and Arizona Diamondbacks (outfielder J.D. Martinez) each have made significant moves in advance of the non-waiver trade deadline, at least in part, to try and close the gap with the Dodgers.

This is not lost on Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“Yes. I think when you’re seeing teams and you see the best team you try to figure out how you match up,” Roberts said of the flurry of moves recently. “Yeah, you see it.”

The Cubs, Nationals and Diamondbacks each had obvious deficiencies to address. The Dodgers do not feel they do.

“We feel we have a pretty well-rounded 25-man roster – and 40-man – without any significant weaknesses that could be low-hanging fruit this time of year,” Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said.

Roberts said there is an awareness of the moves made by other National League teams and a buzz that comes with the approach of the trade deadline every year. But there is no sense of urgency about making a move.

“Every year, players are talking about it. Coaches are talking about it,” he said. “We’re very aware of what’s going on around baseball. We still know we’re the best team.

“If the right deal presents itself, I know we’ll act on it. And if it doesn’t, like I’ve said before, we expect to win this division and win a championship.”

The Dodgers might not have a glaring weakness, but the most obvious upgrade would be adding a left-handed reliever to the bullpen.

“You can always get better. A need? I don’t think we need anything,” Roberts said.

“You look at a left-on-left guy. We don’t have that true left-on-left guy. Credit to our guys that we do have; they get lefties and righties out. But potentially if you really dig into our club what would be an extra luxury? Probably a guy that can get a lefty out. But in our ’pen, we have righties that get lefties out. We’ve got lefties who get righties out. We have the best ’pen in baseball right now so our guys are doing a pretty good job right now.”

On Wednesday, Enrique Hernandez slammed two home runs, and Chris Taylor finished a triple shy of the cycle to help Los Angeles win its 11th straight contest, 9-1, in a game called in the eight inning because of rain.

Corey Seager added a home run, two singles and three RBIs for the Dodgers, who have won 31 of their last 35 games. Kenta Maeda (8-4) held the White Sox to one run on five hits in five innings.

Cubs rolling, Bryant day-to-day

Meanwhile, Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant left Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning after spraining the little finger on his left hand in a head-first slide.

X-rays were negative, ruling out a fracture, and Bryant was listed as dayto-day.

Bryant, the reigning National League MVP, hit the foot of Braves third baseman Johan Camargo with his hand as he tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt. He was thrown out by catcher Tyler Flowers to end the top of the first of the Cubs’ 8-2 victory, their sixth straight win since the All-Star Break.

Mets’ DeGrom still in top form

Jacob deGrom won his seventh consecutive start, tossing 62/3 strong innings in the New York’ Mets’ 7-3 home victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

DeGrom (11-3) threw 25 pitches in the first inning, but settled down to allow one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out three. He has a 1.51 ERA in his past seven starts, a stretch in which he has struck out 50 and walked 10. The Mets scored all their runs in the first two innings against Cardinals starter Mike Leake (6-8).

Yoenis Cespedes had an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the second, while Lucas Duda (double), Wilmer Flores (single), Jay Bruce (single) and Jose Reyes (two-run single) also had run-scoring hits.