Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
So things went about as poorly as they possibly could for the Dodgers in this afternoon’s 11-3 loss to the Pirates. Not only did starter Brett Anderson exit injured after one frame, but he also gave up five runs before doing so. The offense generally also had a rough go of things, and the defense committed a few mistakes that contributed to the mess as well. Perhaps the lone bright spot, as usual, was the bullpen, and even they took their lumps.
So much for a happy getaway day.
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Going back to Anderson, he now has an ERA of 45.00 thanks to his one inning of work in which he surrendered five runs on a walk and five hits, including two homers. The worst part is that he threw only 30 pitches and had to exit the game with an injured wrist after attempting to make a diving play.
The injury is what’s being described as a mild sprain, but who knows?
#Dodgers say Brett Anderson was removed from the game for precautionary reasons with a mild left wrist sprain.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) August 14, 2016
Anyway, the bullpen did a (generally) stellar job in relief of Anderson, which shouldn’t surprise anymore. Brock Stewart, who was just activated, was called into action almost immediately and responded with three innings of one-run ball. Stewart did walk four and gave up two hits, but considering the circumstances it’s hard to nitpick.
J.P. Howell then followed by getting two outs, although he did technically give up an earned run. I say technically because that “earned run” came on a “hit” that was “double” lost in the sun by Josh Reddick in right with two outs, and Howell only had to be removed after Corey Seager made an error on a grounder hit right at him. Sucks.
Anyway, so that’s when Jesse Chavez entered, and he escaped trouble in that inning and pitched a scoreless frame in the next to have his nice little run continue.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/764950995856076800
That was followed by Grant Dayton, who threw two scoreless innings, striking out three and only allowing one hit. I can only weep and wonder why Freddy Galvis beat him.
Josh Fields then entered to finish the game, and he had his 0.00 ERA with the Dodgers destroyed, as he gave up three earned runs on five hits while recording only a single out. Fields also gave up an unearned run after A-Gon booted a double-play ball hit right at him to cap off this humiliation.
That meant another reliever had to be expended, and Pedro Baez entered and thankfully immediately induced a soft liner that turned into a double play.
The offense amassed only seven hits (two doubles, one homer) and one walk (their only one in the series) on the day, but they did manage three runs. One of those runs came courtesy of Joc Pederson dinger, and also on a rather awkward swing.
Still counts.
The other runs came on an Adrian Gonzalez single to drive in Reddick (double), and a balk that scored Howie Kendrick (walk) from third.
Sorta sums up the day for the offense.
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With the loss, the Dodgers drop to 65-52 on the year and 38-24 at home. Hopefully they use this upcoming road trip as a chance to improve their road woes. Anyway, things could always be worse as the Giants blew a 7-1 lead against the Orioles, and thus their NL West lead remains at 1 game. In the NL Wild Card race, the Marlins (won) and Cardinals (play later) are both currently trailing by 4 games in the race for home-field advantage and to make the playoffs.
The Dodgers have a travel day tomorrow as they fly out to the East Coast, and will next play the Phillies on Tuesday at 1:05 PM HST/4:05 PM PST/7:05 PM EST. The pitching matchup will be (current) Dodgers ace Kenta Maeda (3.31 ERA/3.63 FIP/4.05 DRA) against (presumptive) Phillies ace Vincent Velasquez (3.94/3.80/4.41).
