LOS ANGELES (AP) — The silence in the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse was deafening. The few players left quietly dressed and departed after another tough loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Once again, the bullpen blew it.
After Shohei Ohtani pitched five hitless innings, Philadelphia's Rafael Marchon hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer off Blake Treinen with two outs in the ninth inning for a 9-6 win on Tuesday night.
The Phillies clinched the NL East title with a 6-5 win in 10 innings on Monday night.
Twelve of the Dodgers' last 19 losses have been charged to relievers and they are 6-14 in their past 20 games decided by one run.
“They’re lacking confidence,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They’re not making good pitches when they need to, a little careful at times.”
Roberts maintains he hasn't lost confidence in the group that includes veterans Treinen, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech, along with youngsters Jack Dreyer and Emmet Sheehan.
“I know it’s frustrating to the fans,” Treinen said. “I can promise you from the bottom of our hearts we’re trying our darndest every single night. There’s nothing we haven’t done, there’s no stone we haven’t unturned. It’s not an effort thing, it’s not a preparation thing. It is literally just sometimes things aren’t working.”
Dreyer and Justin Wrobleski had been pitching well lately, until the Phillies came to town. Dreyer gave up two runs and two hits in one inning of Monday's loss.
The crowd of 44,063 groaned when Wrobleski came onto the field, knowing Ohtani was done. They booed heavily as the 25-year-old left-hander got shelled for five straight hits, including a three-run homer, in blowing a 4-0 lead.
“My job is to go out there and put up zeroes and I did not do that,” Wrobleski said. “Life is about how you handle adversity and I’ve dealt with a lot of that, so I know what I need to do. I know that being better is the bottom line and I know I can do it.”
Time is running out.
The Dodgers lead second-place San Diego in the NL West by two games after the Padres also lost, 8-3 at the New York Mets. The Dodgers dropped seven games behind the Phillies for the No. 2 seed in the National League with 11 games remaining in the regular season.
As dreadful as the bullpen has been, Dodgers starters have been terrific lately. In eight of the last 11 games, they've allowed one or fewer hits in the first five innings.
But the relief corps has been their undoing.
“We're really good at being resilient,” Treinen said. “You have to understand what this team does year in and year out, and we're winners. We're going to find a way to get that done.”
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