First-inning runs alone won’t get you over the line most of the time. Stopping at a pair of early solo shots—at least until the ninth inning—the Dodgers’ offense left a lot to be desired in a 4-3 loss to the Marlins, as Tyler Glasnow went through plenty of issues in his shortest regular start of the season (4+ IP). The hard-throwing right-hander walked four and seldom looked in rhythm.
Beginning with a bang, the Dodgers made a statement against Tyler Phillips in the first, taking a 2-0 lead with back-to-back
long balls from Mookie Betts and Max Muncy—the one from Betts had special value, given it represented the 10,000th home run in Los Angeles Dodgers history. The problem is that this so-called statement was left at that, with the offense failing to record another hit in Phillips’ three-plus innings of work, pitching with a short leash.
By the time Phillips was removed from the game in the fourth, the Marlins had already taken the lead courtesy of a three-run second against Glasnow. Josue De Paula came back from down in the count to earn a walk against Phillips in the fourth, enough for the Marlins to make the call to the bullpen and bring in left-hander Cade Gibson to retire Hunter Feduccia.
The Dodgers trailed at this early point because Tyler Glasnow seemed to be swimming against the tide for the better part of this one, meshing small periods of dominance with worrisome rallies. After squeezing his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, Glasnow coughed up three runs in the second. The damage started with a two-run shot from Graham Pauley and later on with three straight singles, the last one an RBI knock from Otto Lopez.
It then looked like Glasnow would figure things out with clean innings in the third and fourth, including striking out the side in the latter, but that calmness was short-lived. Walking the first two batters of the fifth, Glasnow was removed, recording just 12 outs and leaving quite a mess for Jack Dreyer, who did himself no favors by loading the bases with an 0-2 HBP. In what felt like a pivotal inning for the Dodgers to remain in this game, they caught all the breaks—an errant throw from Mookie Betts on a routine grounder was snagged by Alex Freeland, preventing multiple runners from scoring, and in the following at-bat, Kyle Tucker flashed the leather with a smooth sliding grab to keep everyone at their stations. With one out, Dreyer induced a timely double play as Agustin Ramírez absolutely smoked a groundball right at Betts. And just like that, the score was at a still manageable 4-2 deficit.
In the regular season, the habit is often to criticize bad challenges rather than the lack of them, but in this matchup against the Marlins, the Dodgers might have had an example of the latter. Tucker was up with a runner at second and only one out in the top of the sixth. With a 2-1 count against righty Tyler Zuber, he was thrown a curve that was clearly both outside and low—despite being visibly frustrated with the call, Tucker opted not to challenge as the Dodgers only had one remaining. While the instinct is reasonable with plenty of time left, the call was egregious enough that it warranted an exception. Tucker would be retired on the following pitch, and the Dodgers would ultimately strand that runner.
Repeating the events of the fifth, once again a left-handed arm out of the Dodgers bullpen performed his best Houdini act to keep the score at 4-2 in the seventh. With the bases loaded and just one out, Wrobleski struck out Esteury Ruíz and then induced a pop-up behind the plate.
With two outs in the ninth, Josue De Paula worked an easy walk as Pete Fairbanks momentarily lost his command and came around to score when Hunter Fedducia rewarded Dave Roberts’ faith in him with an RBI knock—driving in De Paula, who had stolen second on defensive indifference. Will Smith pinch-hit with the tying run on base and made good contact on a line drive, but it was hit right at the third baseman, securing the final out of this one. One run in five-plus frames against the Marlins bullpen was certainly a disappointing outcome for the Dodgers’ offense.
Saturday particulars
Home runs: Mookie Betts (20), Max Muncy (28), Graham Pauley (4)
WP — Cade Gibson (4-1): 1.1 IP
LP — Tyler Glasnow (4-1): 4+ IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
SV – Pete Fairbanks (19): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run
Up next
The Dodgers play their final game in Miami this season, starting at 10:40 a.m. (PT) before heading off to Cincinnati for the second half of this road trip. While the Dodgers haven’t officially announced a starter, all signs point toward Emmet Sheehan pitching in some capacity, either as the regular starter or a bulk man out of the bullpen: perhaps with a longer leash after Dave Roberts went to Justin Wrobleski out of the bullpen in this Saturday matchup. Miami will counter with their most dazzling pitcher, hard-throwing Eury Pérez.
