Dodgers offense goes quiet as they drop series to Giants – True Blue LA
A day after scoring eight runs, the Dodgers’ bats were ice cold as the dropped the series to the Giants with a 5-0 loss. LA now moves to three games back in the division.
“It’s alive and well,” manager Dave Roberts said on the division race. “They’ve earned this. They’ve played better, clearly. All we can do is turn the page. We’ve got a ways to go. It’s in our own fate. We got to play better baseball, bottom line.”
Things just weren’t clicking early on for David Price, as he walked three hitters in the first inning to load the bases. For Price, this was his first outing all season with three walks… and he did it today in the first inning. Over his previous 36 2⁄3 innings of work, Price had only issued nine walks.
“Walking three guys puts myself in a tough spot,” Price said following the game. “They did a good job of fighting pitches off and they made me pay for it today.
Well, it came back to bite him as he allowed a double to Brandon Crawford, giving San Francisco a 2-0 lead. To make it even more painful, Crawford beat the shift with his hit as it had an expected batting average of .150.
Price’s velocity was noticeably lower than it’s been in previous outings. He said he just didn’t have a good feel for the baseball today.
“I didn’t have very good feel for anything,” he said. “When I was playing catch before the game, I thought I was going to throw really hard today. It was weird.”
Roberts noticed the drop in velocity as well, but said he wasn’t concerned about it.
The Giants tacked on another run with two outs an inning later. After Johnny Cueto (yes, seriously) reached with a single, Wilmer Flores doubled him in to give SF the 3-0 lead. If you notice a theme with the Giants scoring today, it’s because all their runs came with two outs on the afternoon.
Price ended up giving the Dodgers 4 1⁄3 innings. He allowed four runs to score on four hits and struck out two.
San Francisco scored another run (with two outs) in the fourth inning, as Austin Slater singled in a runner that reached due to an error. Then in the seventh (with you guessed it, two outs!) LaMonte Wade Jr. doubled in a run for his first hit off a left-handed pitcher this season.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense was missing all day. Their lone chance to do any damage came in the sixth inning when they had the bases loaded with two outs. Cody Bellinger stepped up to the plate and didn’t even give a competitive at bat, as he struck out on three pitches, ending any hope of a rally.
LA had only four hits for the game, with two of them coming from AJ Pollock who continues to hit everything in sight. Yet again, the Dodgers’ offense goes ice cold, which has been a theme for them over the last week.
Oh, in case you missed it, the Dodgers reportedly acquired Danny Duffy from the Royals.
Thursday particulars
WP: Johnny Cueto (7-5) 5 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 5 SO
LP: David Price (4-1) 4 2⁄3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB
Up next
The Dodgers will travel to Arizona and play the D-Backs for three games. There’s a solid chance they’ll be adding both Mookie Betts and Corey Seager to the lineup during the weekend.
