Dodgers' Struggles Mount: Pitching Woes and Defensive Blunders Lead to Fourth Straight Loss

 

Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno, right, celebrates with teammate Josh Naylor after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning Monday.

 

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Dodger Stadium was eerily quiet for much of Monday evening. And not just because whole areas of the top deck sat largely empty.

In a 9-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers really did not just drop their fourth straight video game, but turned in an efficiency that elicited as several boos as anything else at Chavez Ravine, stumbling to a season-worst losing touch on a night they did little appropriate in any kind of facet of the game.

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There was bad defense early. In the first inning, facility fielder Hyeseong Kim lost a fly ball in the golden skies, causing 2 runs that would have been unearned had it not been ruled a double. In the second, third baseman Max Muncy spiked a throw to first on a slow-rolling grounder that brought about another avoidable score, despite the fact that his slip was additionally ruled a base hit.

The throwing wasn't great either. Left-handed opener Jack Dreyer adhered to Muncy's poor throw with an even wilder pitch to the backstop in the following at-bat, progressing the runner to establish an ultimate sacrifice fly. Landon Knack took over in the third and without delay surrendered a pair of two-run crowning achievement, one to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a down-and-in slider and an additional to Gabriel Moreno on a within heater.

Also minority brilliant areas offensively weren't close to being enough.

Mookie Betts struck 2 crowning achievement in his continued search to break out of a slow-moving begin. Shohei Ohtani retook single property of the big league lead in long spheres by whacking his 17th of the period. But all three blasts featured nobody on base. And they stood for the Dodgers' only hits of the evening against Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who was or else unbothered in a six-inning effort that included no strikeouts (or perhaps a single swing-and-miss from a Dodgers hitter) yet a lot of fine plays from a sports protection behind him.

The Dodgers' just various other racking up can be found in the nine, when a two-run rally proved much insufficient, much too late.

While unsteady defense and inconsistent production at home plate have actually been bugaboos for the Dodgers (29-19), it is the group's progressively pitching struggles that have stood apart most during this four-game skid-- the club's lengthiest because shedding 5 in a row in late May last season.

With the loss to the Diamondbacks (26-22), the Dodgers possess a team ERA of 4.28, which ranks 22nd in the majors and is their highest at this point in a campaign considering that 2010.

The major origin of the trouble is easy to recognize. Beginners Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki remain on the damaged checklist, compeling the club right into strategies such as Monday with a newbie in Dreyer opening for a depth arm in Knack. The bullpen has actually been shorthanded, too, with Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips and Kirby Yates all hurt, too.

Arizona's Gabriel Moreno, right, commemorates with teammate Josh Naylor after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning Monday.

The bright side is that numerous of those sidelined options recuperate. Glasnow and Snell are both progressing in their throwing programs, with Glasnow "a tick ahead of Blake," according to manager Dave Roberts. Sasaki is anticipated to begin his throwing program during the group's upcoming road trip. And Ohtani, that has been tossing normal bullpen sessions all season, is starting to accumulate his pitch matter as the club targets his go back to the pile at some time around the All-Star break.

But in the meantime, the Dodgers have actually still expected much more from their currently healthy group.

" We've reached begin being extra reliable, absolutely from the beginners, to give us an opportunity to get deeper into games," Roberts said.

And to do that, Roberts mentioned one place to begin.

" On very first glimpse, we require to be far better at prospering in counts," he stated. "It doesn't take a deep dive to see we start 1-and-0 frequently. When you do that, it makes pitching hard."

Certainly, the Dodgers entered the night 24th in the majors with a 59.8% first-strike price, a trouble Roberts believes has actually led to too many long innings, and too large a workload for the personnel.

" The 30-pitch innings just don't play. It's not sustainable," he claimed. "And that begins with getting strike one. That eventually goes to our whole pitching staff."

The Dodgers were better because location Monday, starting 27 of 49 at-bats with a strike. Yet it really did not help. Dreyer required 38 pitches to make it through his 2 innings. Flair threw 106 to make it through the next 5 (consisting of 16 in one at-bat to Moreno in the fifth).

And when long reliever Matt Sauer took over in the 8th and gave up a two-run crowning achievement to Geraldo Perdomo, much of a season-low (and atypically peaceful) crowd of 41,372 began streaming for the exits, not staying for one of the Dodgers' flattest showings this year.