ST. LOUIS — Considering what has happened to the Dodgers’ starting rotation this season, they should be treating what remains like a dwindling precious resource.
But the offense wasted six scoreless innings from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, stalling out in the clutch for the second game in a row and losing 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Nolan Arenado’s pinch-hit walkoff single in the ninth inning Saturday afternoon.
“Yeah, when Yoshi pitches the way he did, six scoreless, you’d like to think you’d come away with a win there,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But to their credit, they prevented runs and got outs when they needed to.”
The best-hitting team in baseball with runners in scoring position, the Dodgers suddenly can’t buy a timely hit.
They were shut out Friday night and went scoreless into the ninth inning Saturday. A week ago, they scored 18 runs in a rout of the New York Yankees. They have scored 18 runs total in seven games since.
“Baseball’s a weird game sometimes,” Freddie Freeman said of the sudden struggles of the Dodgers’ offense.
“We’re not getting hits right now. I wish there were an answer for it – ‘This is why.’ We’re just not hitting.”
They are hitting, actually – just not at the most important times. The Dodgers have 19 hits and 24 baserunners in the first two games of the series in St. Louis. But they have stranded 21 baserunners, 12 on Saturday when they went 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers lead the majors in hitting with runners in scoring position (.301) but have gone 1 for 25 in the two losses in St. Louis.
“The way things are going right now our margin is small. We have to find a way to capitalize on any opportunities we do get. Recently we haven’t,” Roberts said.
“Obviously they’re making pitches when they need to. There’s some strikeouts, there’s some soft contact and honestly I don’t think there’s hard-hit balls where we’re getting robbed in those situations. They’re just making pitches when they need to. I know we talked about it yesterday, but from what my eyes are telling me, they’re going soft (off-speed pitches) and we’re just not putting good swings on some of these pitches.”
It is familiar territory for Yamamoto. The Dodgers have not treated the best starter in their depleted rotation very well. They have scored just 3.7 runs per game in Yamamoto’s 13 starts. The Dodgers have had zero runs when Yamamoto left his start six times. He has allowed 21 runs this season — the same number of runs the Dodgers have scored while he has been in the game during his 13 starts.
“That is part of baseball,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “Sometimes they have my back. Sometimes they struggle and I try to give what I’ve got for the team. It’s just part of the game.”
Yamamoto had hit his own rough patch recently with a 4.55 ERA over his previous five starts. But he put up his own zeroes against the Cardinals.
It took some work at times. He allowed a hit and walked a batter in the first inning, escaping damage when Masyn Winn was picked off third base. In the second, the Cardinals loaded the bases on two hits and a hit batter but Yamamoto struck out Lars Nootbaar to put up another zero.
He dodged more damage again in the fifth inning, stranding two more runners.
Yamamoto’s splitter was his best friend. He got eight of his 14 swings-and-misses with the pitch including the finishing pitch on five of his nine strikeouts.
“Especially the splitter and the curveball, the last few outings I struggled to control them,” he said. “Today I was able to have good command of those pitches.”
After Alex Vesia kept the scoreless game going through seven innings, Ben Casparius followed him in the eighth. Casparius has been one of the Dodgers’ most reliable relievers. He wasn’t at his best Saturday – but it was his own defense that did him in.
The Cardinals had runners at first and second with two outs in the eighth when Alec Burleson bounced a ball back up the middle that ricocheted off Casparius’ right arm and toward shortstop. Casparius scrambled to retrieve the ball and made an ill-advised attempt to throw Burleson out at first.
His throw was wide. Winn started the play on second base, went to third on the grounder and raced home when Casparius’ throw pulled Freeman away from first base. Freeman’s throw home was too late to get Winn.
“I thought I had a shot there,” Casparius said. “Didn’t make a great throw. Freddie had a really good effort at home. Ultimately, should have held onto the ball.”
The Dodgers finally scored to tie the game in the top of ninth. But it didn’t come with timely hitting as much as with luck.
Shohei Ohtani reached base on an infield single that hit the second-base bag. He went to third on Mookie Betts’ single and scored on a wild pitch as Freeman struck out.
In the bottom of the ninth, though, Casparius gave up a leadoff double to Nolan Gorman and then put himself in danger with more poor fielding. Pedro Pages’ sacrifice bunt attempt went right back to Casparius, who bobbled it momentarily then fired hastily and high to first base. Both runners were safe.
With no outs, the Dodgers went with a five-man infield. Arenado came off the bench to pinch hit and got the ball onto outfield grass to drive in the winning run.
“Bunt came back to me, checked at third, bobbled a little bit then kind of got sped up on that throw,” Casparius said. “Then with two outfielders and everything, a fly ball gets it done there. Left a slider up in the zone to Nolan. He’d already seen two of them so it was a good swing.
“I just think I wasn’t sharp in general. Obviously those throws to first base are crucial and can’t really happen.”
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