CHICAGO — Tuesday night time epitomized what a lot of this younger season has felt like for the Dodgers.
Momentum would construct, then vanish. Proper once they lastly appeared to kick into prime gear, they as an alternative slipped frustratingly again into reverse.
Regardless of main by three runs within the first inning, then three once more coming into the eighth, the Dodgers couldn’t maintain on in a wild 11-10, extra-innings loss to the Chicago Cubs, getting outplayed — or, on the very least, outslugged — on an evening a wind blowing out turned Wrigley Subject right into a band field.
Tanner Scott blew a save with two out within the ninth, when Miguel Amaya tied the rating on a solo residence run to middle. The Dodgers couldn’t reply within the prime of the tenth, and Ian Happ walked it off with an RBI single on the primary pitch of the underside half of the inning.
“We have been one out away,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned from a somber postgame clubhouse. “We simply couldn’t put them away.”
The problem now: ensuring the season’s most disheartening defeat doesn’t spiral one thing into one thing prolonged.
Granted, the Dodgers are nonetheless 16-8. They nonetheless have the third-best file within the majors. They nonetheless possess only a few professional long-term issues of their pursuit of a second straight World Sequence title.
However for now, a workforce of supreme expertise just isn’t clicking on all cylinders.
Even on an evening the Dodgers scored a season excessive in runs, their general play remained removed from prime kind.
Within the first inning Tommy Edman opened the scoring with a three-run residence run — just for pitcher Dustin Could to instantly yield a five-spot within the backside half of the body.
The Dodgers responded with solo homers from Andy Pages and Will Smith within the second and sixth innings, respectively — but watched Could give these runs again too, when he threw a center-cut fastball to Pete Crow-Armstrong within the fifth that the Harvard-Westlake product launched for a two-run blast.
“Nothing was superb right this moment,” mentioned Could, who was victimized by each errors over the plate and an incapability to find his signature sweeper for strikes.
“He simply couldn’t put guys away when he had an opportunity to,” Roberts added.
Over the ultimate few innings, the identical factor utilized to his workforce.
The Dodgers briefly surged again in entrance with a five-run rally within the seventh. One run scored on an error. Two got here residence on Freddie Freeman’s go-ahead double. Two extra have been plated on a sacrifice fly from Edman and an off-the-wall double from Smith.
“I’ve performed loads of loopy video games at Wrigley through the years, particularly when the wind is blowing out prefer it was right this moment,” Edman mentioned. “It’s form of the expectation whenever you are available.”
However what the Dodgers didn’t anticipate, after turning a 10-7 lead over to their usually stout bullpen, was to face-plant the best way they did down the stretch.
Kyle Tucker took Alex Vesia deep within the eighth for a two-run homer. Scott suffered his second blown save in 10 alternatives by leaving a fastball down the center to Amaya within the ninth, watching the blast carry simply far sufficient to search out Wrigley Subject’s outfield basket in middle.
“Simply missed location,” Scott mentioned. “Center-middle just isn’t superb within the large leagues.”
Within the tenth, the Dodgers moved their automated runner to 3rd however no additional.
Regardless of their season-high scoring output, they completed the sport simply three for 14 with runners in scoring place.
“Some guys had some large nights, which was nice,” Roberts mentioned. “However there’s nonetheless some issues situationally [where] I simply didn’t suppose we had good at-bats.”
Nonetheless, Roberts countered, “we nonetheless put up 10 runs. We’ve gotta win that ballgame.”
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