Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers were going for a two-game sweep of the Rays today following a confident 7-3 victory yesterday. Things did not got as smoothly this time around, as Rich Hill pitched well but the pen got obliterated and the bats got unlucky in a 8-1 loss.
——
Hill cussed his way through what should’ve been six shutout innings…
…but he did give up a homer to Tommy Pham after striking him out.
Hill pitched well for the second start in a row, striking out seven and allowing just two walks and four singles aside from the homer.
I try not to be one of those people who complain about umpires or luck all the time, but it really was ridiculous today. Not only did Hill give up his only run after a blown call on a fastball right down the dick, but the Dodgers luck on offense was horrendous.
Seriously, that’s 12 balls with a xBA above .350 that were outs. It was comical.
They did get one (1) run on a Max Muncy dong in the 6th to tie it up temporarily at least.
Still, that wasn’t the main issue. Basically the Dodgers only problem this entire season has been the pen in high-leverage situations and that came to light today.
With Pedro Baez‘s knee being fucked and not knowing where Julio Urias is at mentally or whether they should even use him at this point, Dave Roberts basically had Dylan Floro and Caleb Ferguson as semi-reliable relief options that are probably better suited to 6th or 7th inning roles in a quality pen.
Roberts ended up bringing in both in the 7th and they gave up a combined seven runs on four hits, two HBPs, and a walk, with Floro not even recording an out. Ross Stripling got the 8th and gave up a hit as well but at least got a scoreless frame.
Doesn’t matter cause the offense wasn’t going to make up that deficit in the final six outs and that was the end of that.
——
The Dodgers fall to 32-18 with the loss, 104-win pace, and are now 6 games ahead of the Padres in the NL West.
They have yet another day off on the road trip as they head to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates, which is surely good for them but boring for fans, dammit. Anyway, that series will start on Friday at 1:05 PM HST/4:05 PM PST/7:05 PM EST with Walker Buehler facing off against … somebody (???).
