It appears all the momentum the Dodgers gained in their series win over the Yankees has deflated. Los Angeles on Thursday night lost to the Rangers 3-1, giving Texas consecutive victories over LA and a series win.
Here are four takeaways from a bad night at Dodger Stadium:
1. Rough bullpen start
The Dodgers pushed back Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s start and rolled out reliever Michael Grove for his second start of the year. He lasted 1.0 innings and gave up two runs on three hits. It’s worth noting one of the hits was a bloop RBI single that fell just beyond the reach of first baseman Freddie Freeman (more on this later). Grove in his pair of starts this year has given up seven hits and five runs in 3.0 innings. It makes sense LA would sprinkle in a handful of bullpen starts throughout the season, and it’s a tough position to put Grove in. As long as he keeps getting outs from the bullpen though the Dodgers will live with a couple of rocky starts.
2. Soft singles
Los Angeles got some bad luck Thursday night. Wyatt Langford’s two RBI singles that plated LA’s last two runs went 67.3 MPH off the bat and 58.8 MPH off the bat. Both were looping liners into right that found no-man’s land in shallow right field. That’s just a bad break for LA, especially in a bullpen game. If those two softly-hit balls are hit almost anywhere else on the field they’d likely have been caught. Instead they drove in the winning runs.
3. Andy Pages can’t be stopped
Not everyone is hitting for the Dodgers right now, but the rookie Pages sure is. He singled in the bottom of the fourth to make it 11 consecutive starts he’s reached in, with hits in 10 of those games. He’s now hit safely in five straight games. Pages also belted a solo home run in the seventh that accounted for the Dodgers’ only run. The more the Dodgers can get from their rookie outfielder down the stretch, the better. He started hot, hit a skid, but has bounced back extremely well over the last couple weeks.
4. Another top three fumble
For second night in a row the Dodgers sent their top three hitters to the plate with nobody out in a tight ballgame. Thursday in the eighth inning Cavan Biggio was hit by a pitch. Then Austin Barnes singled to put runners at the corners with none out and LA down 3-1. He set the table for Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman to face David Robertson — the same pitcher who retired that trio consecutively on strikes Wednesday night. It was the same result. All three Dodgers stars struck out to strand Biggio and Barnes. LA never had a better opportunity to tie or take a lead. All three of that trio making an out is one thing. To have them all go down without making contact is especially tough.
