The Dodgers (20-12) failed to get their bats going in a 7-2 loss to the Cardinals (19-13) Friday night at Busch stadium in St. Louis. The L.A. bats didn’t muster much against the Marlins this week, including in Wednesday’s series finale. They got their first day off in two weeks, and a break was what we thought they needed.
Unfortunately the slumping offense continued for the Dodgers to sour the start of the road trip. The offense has only scored four runs the last three games. Shohei Ohtani went
0-for-5 with a strikeout, and his batting average has now dipped to .261 on the season. Overall, they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
Small Mistakes add up in 3-Run First
Sheehan made 30 pitches and surrendered four base hits including a home run in a disastrous chain of events in the first inning. A throwing error by Smith and scoring balk called on Sheehan minutes after the fact added fuel to the fire before Gorman dealt the big blow.
With Nolan Gorman batting, Iván Herrera scored on a balk. The umpires convened for a seemingly long time, and they came back to call the balk to bring in the first run of the inning for St. Louis.
Miguel Rojas missed the tag on a pickoff attempt of Iván Herrera on second base. Will Smith’s throw sailed by Rojas into center field and allowed the runners to move to second and third with two outs for third baseman Nolan Gorman.
Then the big blow came. Nolan Gorman crushed a Sheehan four-seamer for a two-run home run to make it 3-0.
After Pages singled, Max Muncy doubled deep off the center field wall on an 0-2 Liberatore pitch to get the Dodgers on the board. Muncy now has 11 hits in his last 10 games.
Sheehan had a nice bounce back inning in the second and retired the side in order, but Alec Burleson took another two-strike pitch deep in the third for a solo home run to make it 4-1.
Smith and Teoscar Hernández opened the fourth inning with back-to-back singles, but the promising start quickly faded and ended in Pages who grounded into a double play.
Jordan Walker went 3-for-3 against Sheehan, doubling with two out in the bottom of the fifth to chase Sheehan from the game. Jake Dreyer came in and did his job to retire the dangerous Gorman and send the game to the sixth.
Smith’s ABS Success Expands with Challenge at the Plate
Smith has been effectively using ASB challenges behind the plate to nab strikes back this season, but he also won a challenge as a batter at the plate to give the Dodgers another opportunity with a runner in scoring position with the first walk of the night for the Dodgers.
A nine-pitch plate appearance by Hernandez brought up Tucker with the bases loaded and one out. The Dodgers doubled their score on a Tucker sac fly. It was also the final batter for Liberatore. Pages lined out to center against St. Louis reliever George Soriano to strand another two runners.
Walker picked up his fourth run of the game, a double off Alex Vesia in the bottom of the seventh. A throwing error on Hernandez allowed Walker to reach third. The Red Birds scored their third run of the inning against Edgardo Henriquez after a spicy Masyn Winn hit-by-pitch and scoring groundout.
Hyeseong Kim doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth to give Ohtani one more opportunity. The slumping slugger flied out to center field to end the game and seal the third consecutive loss for the Dodgers.
Friday particulars
Home runs: Nolan Gorman (5), Alec Burleson (5)
WP — Matthew Liberatore (1-1): 5 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (96 pitches)
LP — Emmet Sheehan (2-1): 4 2/3 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs, no walks, 8 strikeouts (97 pitches)
Up next
Roki Sasaki (1-2, 6.35 ERA, 1.81 WHIP) starts the second game of the series, coming off one of his best MLB starts so far (4:15 p.m.; FOX). Michael McGreevy (1-2, 2.97 ERA, 0.90 WHIP), the California native, starts for the Cardinals.
