PITTSBURGH — Over three nights in Pittsburgh this week, the Dodgers didn’t win a sport, regardless of enjoying a last-place Pirates membership.
They didn’t develop their division lead, regardless of the second-place San Diego Padres struggling their very own three-game sweep.
And, as veteran infielder Miguel Rojas careworn Thursday evening, they merely didn’t appear like a workforce able to sharing in any pleasure, regardless of their fixed insistence that higher play will materialize.
“I really feel like ever since we began enjoying poorly a pair months in the past, the strain and frustration has been increase on the workforce,” Rojas stated.
“We all know what we’re able to. We’re enjoying underneath the edge, the objective that now we have. However on the finish of the day, we gotta put all that apart … and now we have to search out some pleasure and a few motivation to come back to the ballpark. Not simply, ‘I gotta do my job.’ Now we have to come back right here and revel in ourselves across the clubhouse, whatever the scenario.”
The scenario, in fact, appears to be like bleak, with Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the Pirates sealing a confounding three-game sweep.
“It’s irritating. It’s embarrassing,” Rojas stated. “However now we have to have the ability to flip the web page and are available tomorrow with a greater angle. … Now we have to discover a option to benefit from the sport just a little bit extra.”
This loss, granted, was the best to clarify.
In six scoreless innings, Cy Younger frontrunner Paul Skenes was his sometimes dominant self. Already the major-league ERA chief, the second-year right-hander caught out eight batters, gave up simply two hits, escaped his solely actual menace by stranding a pair of two-out baserunners within the third inning, and in any other case overpowered the Dodgers with a seven-pitch repertoire headlined by his upper-90s mph sidearm fastball.
His counterpart, two-time Cy Younger Award winner Blake Snell, was nowhere close to high type, giving up 5 runs in 5 innings regardless of largely limiting a lot onerous contact.
The Dodgers (78-62) did lastly present some life offensively within the high of the ninth, scoring 3 times (their first runs because the eighth inning of Tuesday’s sport) and placing the tying run on base. However by then, it was too little, too late — with the sport ending on a three-pitch strikeout by newly called-up catcher Ben Rortvedt, the most recent hair-pulling second in a season of deflation.
“We’re simply not enjoying good baseball, that’s actually it,” Snell stated. “We’ve acquired to determine that out. That’s on us to try this. We’ve acquired to get it going. It’s crunch time proper now. Can’t actually have excuses.”
Pirates beginning pitcher Paul Skenes delivers in opposition to the Dodgers on Thursday.
(Justin Berl / Getty Photographs)
Certainly, the Dodgers lead the NL West by solely two video games — having missed an opportunity to create distance within the standings after the Padres unexpectedly dropped three straight in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles earlier within the week.
In addition they path the Philadelphia Phillies by three video games for a top-two seed within the NL playoff image, putting themselves at risk of dealing with a three-game wild-card sequence fairly than a first-round bye.
With 22 video games remaining, the Dodgers must be good the remainder of the way in which to succeed in the 100-win mark. At this level, even 90 victories feels removed from a certainty, given the workforce’s 4-12 file of their final 16 in opposition to groups with shedding information.
“I wish to say it’s uncharacteristic, however I believe we’ve carried out that loads,” supervisor Dave Roberts acknowledged afterward.
And when dealing with the present greatest pitcher within the sport, they actually by no means appeared poised to vary that pattern.
Skenes set the tone instantly on what had been a wet night in Pittsburgh. Shohei Ohtani struck out on a 99-mph heater within the sport’s first at-bat. The following seven Dodgers who got here to the plate all recorded outs, flailing at Skenes’ mixture of four-seamers, sweepers, curveballs and changeups to permit him to rapidly discover a comfy rhythm.
It wasn’t till Dalton Dashing — who began instead of an injured Will Smith, because the workforce’s beginning catcher awaited outcomes on a CT scan for a bruised hand he suffered the evening earlier than — hit a third-inning fastball excessive off the center-field wall for a double that gave the Dodgers their first baserunner. However, after an Ohtani stroll, Mookie Betts grounded out to retire that menace.
From there, the one different injury Skenes allowed was a fifth-inning single from Rojas. And although the Dodgers’ capacity to no less than foul off two-strike pitches — they fought off 15 in all — no less than acquired him out of the sport after six innings, it was already too late to mount a comeback.
That’s as a result of, in contrast to the Dodgers, the last-place Pirates (64-77) really managed to construct rallies in opposition to one other of the sport’s different high pitchers.
Snell’s outing was a grind from the beginning, with Dashing misfiring to first base for an error within the first inning and Betts reacting slowly to a floor ball at shortstop to increase the second.
Snell labored round these jams. Within the third, nonetheless, he adopted a leadoff single by Bryan Reynolds with a pair of untamed pitches that acquired by Dashing. With Reynolds immediately on third, and the Dodgers’ infield pressured to play in, Tommy Pham slapped a single by the grime for the evening’s opening run.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers within the second inning Thursday in opposition to the Pirates.
(Justin Berl / Getty Photographs)
Two innings later, the Pirates broke it open.
Within the fifth, Snell gave up three consecutive singles that doubled Pittsburgh’s lead. Then, after an intentional one-out stroll to Andrew McCutchen, Nick Yorke went after a first-pitch curveball for a two-run double down the road. McCutchen later scored from third on a grounder.
“It simply appeared like at the moment there was some seeing-eye single, balls discovering the outfield grass,” Roberts stated. “I assumed he was good, not nice. However once more, just a little bit unfortunate. Whenever you’re dealing with Paul Skenes, you simply can’t afford to surrender runs.”
If all that wasn’t sufficient, the sport ended with one other regrettable sequence within the ninth. Betts broke up the shutout with a leadoff residence run. Singles from Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, Andy Pages and Rojas introduced round two extra runs with the Dodgers all the way down to their final out.
Then, nonetheless, Rortvedt got here up as their ill-fated ultimate hope.
A profession minor-leaguer whom the Dodgers acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on the commerce deadline, then referred to as up Thursday after Smith took a foul ball off his hand the evening earlier than, Rortvedt struck out after having changed Dashing an inning earlier.
As Roberts defined postgame, he was attempting to get Dashing (a rookie who has been a backup this season, however will probably begin the following three video games as Smith recovers from his bruised hand) off his toes. Given the way in which the sport had gone, he wasn’t anticipating Dashing’s spot within the order (which was due up eighth within the ninth inning) to come back again up once more.
“Clearly, in a separate world, I might’ve cherished to have had Dalton up there,” Roberts stated. “However when you’ve got three hits by eight [innings] and also you’re down 5-0, simply form of attempting to determine the way to protect him for the following few days, too.”
So it goes for the Dodgers proper now. Their inconsistent lineup continues to scuffle. Their supposed power of a rotation hasn’t been capable of dominate. And, with their file an incomprehensible 22-30 since July 4, there stays no finish in sight to their second-half slide — nor seen indicators of something apart from frustration.
“I really feel like, as an offense, we’re placing just a little bit an excessive amount of strain on ourselves, as a result of we really feel the need of profitable. And we’re actually forgetting about an important half, which is enjoying for one another and having some pleasure after we play this sport,” Rojas stated.
“Everyone knows, if you’re shedding baseball video games it’s not that enjoyable. However I really feel like now we have to discover a option to put the whole lot in perspective. We’re nonetheless in first place. We’re nonetheless two video games forward of the Padres. We should always have the ability to have some enjoyable whereas we’re enjoying the sport, and form of loosen up just a little bit extra. As a result of I believe when this workforce is collectively like that, we’re actually onerous to beat.”
