Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Riding a four-game winning streak, the dream of making it five ended in emphatic fashion tonight against the Rangers, as a hobbled Dodgers lineup struggled and Trevor Bauer continued to post season-worst outings in an 12-1 loss.
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Bauer comes into tonight scuffling a bit compared to his excellent start to the season, having a 3.86 ERA over 18.2 innings in his last three starts. More important than those raw results are the 15 strikeouts with nine walks and five homers allowed. Obviously a lot of attention is being paid to him now due to the whole ball doctoring mess as well.
Anyway, he labored a bit to start, giving up a single, two stolen bases, and a walk, but working out of trouble eventually in the 1st. He cruised through the 2nd, but the 3rd was another mess. Mookie Betts dropped what should’ve been a routine fly out to start, then with one out and after a stolen base, Adolis Garcia doubled to plate a run. Things then got messy when Joey Gallo singled to right, seemingly scoring Garcia, but that was called back on an appeal as apparently Garcia missed touching the bag twice and/or was out of the baseline for the second out.
Anyway, that was fortunate since after another stolen base, Gallo scored on a Nate Lowe single before Lowe was thrown out at second trying to extend it to a double. 2-0 to the bad guys.
The 4th wasn’t much better for Bauer. Eli White led-off with a walk, and then with one out Jonah Heim crushed a liner to right for a no-doubt two-run shot that got out in a hurry for a 4-0 lead.
.@Jonah_heim6 touches ‘em all. 😉 pic.twitter.com/lgmvBCOoOt
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 13, 2021
He did settle down for a bit, getting out of the 4th and getting scoreless frames in the 5th and 6th. However, Dave Roberts let him continue in the 7th to save the pen or whatever and it didn’t work out. He surrendered a one-out double and then a triple to Willie Calhoun to drive in another run and make it 5-0 before he exited.
Bauer did miss bats, though the unearned runs were only that way due to a questionable call and Bauer was hittable against a relatively anonymous lineup: 6.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 8 K, 117 Pitches.
David Price entered in relief and immediately allowed a single to score another run charged to Bauer. He rebounded with a strikeout but then allowed a double to get into trouble before finishing the 7th with a fly out.
On the other side, things were quiet because … well, so was the offense. Kolby Allard started and generally managed to shut the lineup down. He allowed a double with two outs in the 1st and loaded the bases in the 4th with two outs, but there was nothing doing. All in all, they were only 0-for-3 against him with RISP in the game. It was not a lot of fun to watch.
Demarcus Evans entered in relief and got a perfect 6th, but Taylor Hearns entered in the 7th and the Dodgers finally got a run via AJ Pollock‘s 5th homer of the season to make it 6-1 and keep the streak of not being shutout alive.
Nate Jones entered in the 8th and immediately gave it back. He finally issued his first walk as a Dodger, then gave up a double, and Jason Martin singled for a run. A sacrifice fly made it two runs before he got out of it, and it was 8-1 by then. Jones continued in the 9th and struggled again, issuing a lead-off walk and then Lowe drilled a two-run shot to center to make it 10-1.
That led to the just called up Burnes to make his pitching debut, giving a whole new meaning to utility man. After getting a line out, he gave up a double, but rebounded with an out. However, ruining the shutout for Burnes, Martin hit his first MLB homer to make it 12-1. Burnes finished it with a strikeout, another MLB first for him today.
To end it, Josh Sborz and Joely Rodriguez pitched scoreless 8th and 9th frames.
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Andy Burns got an infield single/scoring gift for his first MLB hit.
Gallo’s face is funny.
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The Dodgers fall to 38-26 and are now 2 games back in the NL West, losing a half game to the Giants, who split a double-header with the Nationals.
The series finale and rubber match is tomorrow afternoon at 10:10 AM HST/1:10 PM PST/4:10 PM EST. Walker Buehler (2.56 ERA/3.72 FIP/3.77 DRA) will face Dane Dunning (4.26 ERA/2.92 FIP/3.90 DRA).
