The Dodgers had dropped three games to the Marlins, only avoiding a sweep because it was a four-game series. Could Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers’ number two starter, who pitches in the number three slot, be a stopper-san and break the Dodgers’ losing streak? How would the recently anemic Dodgers’ bats do against Miami’s Jose Fernandez?
There would also be some drama around the first matchup between Maeda and Ichiro.
In last night’s post game, we mentioned that we’d check on what tricks to steal a win the skipper had up his blue sleeves. For one, Howie Hendrick started at third. (He missed the first ball hit to him, which traveled for a Marlin double.)
Spoiler alert: It was an omen.
1st inning
Dodgers
Following their pattern , the Dodgers scored early. Yasmani Grandal doubled in Chase Utley.
Puig hit a little blooper that Dee Gordon couldn’t get to, and the second run scored.
2nd inning
Marlins
Maeda faced Ichiro for the first time. He got him on a strike out.
J.T. Realmuto took Maeda deep to CF for a home run.
4th inning Dodgers 2-1
Marlins
Maeda vs Ichiro Round 2. Pop up to third.
Dodgers
Of the last six batters, five strike outs.
5th inning Dodgers 2-1
Utley, lead off walk.
Single by Seager. Two men on, but we saw this earlier tonight with no results. No results this time either. just how long was that one-run lead going to hold up?
7th inning. Dodgers 2-1
Marlins
Maeda vs Ichiro Round 3. Flair hit beyond second, caught by Corey Seager. Maeda wins the Ichiro battle, but he’s about to lose the Marlins war.
Maeda was allowed to throw the most pitches he had all season – 101.
Dee Gordon singled on pitch number 101, tying the game at two apiece.
Pedro Baez came in and quickly gave up another score, which flipped Jose Fernandez from potential losing pitcher to potential winner.
And then Dee Gordon hopped around at third base, causing Baez to balk him home. Fish 4 Dodgers 2.
Dodgers
The pattern I mentioned above was the Dodgers score cheap runs early and then never score again. They haven’t scored a late inning run since the wacky game in Colorado last weekend.
Would they finally break that pattern?
Gonzalez came up for the fourth time with two runners on.
The mess that unfolded isn’t worth the time it would take to describe it. Nobody scored, nuff said.
8th inning Marlins 4-2
Giancarlo Stanton homered again, burying the Dodgers deeper still.
9th inning Marlins 5-2
The Dodgers kicked around a bit and scored one run. That was all, and the broom was put into play.
Few said it out loud, but many in Dodgers Nation knew that measly 2-1 lead was not going to hold up and win. The Dodgers never scored in the middle innings and they lost. Miami went from dropping five straight series in Dodger Stadium to a four-game sweep.
Next up is another supposedly bad team, the Padres. I’ll wait before declaring who the bad team really is until after the dust settles on that series.
Kenta Maeda (3-1) went 6 2/3 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 5 K’s. ERA 1.41
Double: Yasmani Grandal
Team with RISP: 2 for 14 Can’t win with those kind of numbers.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Holy wow: Dee Gordon suspended 80 games for testing positive for PED!!
Scratch what I said above; glad we traded him!!!! Go FAZ!!
Pitiful performance by the offense. This just reeks of the stat geeks hands in the lineups. I love Howie Kendrick as a player, but you cannot keep sending a guy out there hitting below .150 and expect results. He has not hit a ball hard since Sunday’s last AB. If Grandal’s arm is hurting, which it looked like last night, then put the guy on the DL. Chase Utley has been reborn. Sad news to me about Dee Gordon. I had a ton of respect for the guy as a player, and his making Baez commit a balk last night was right out of the OLD SCHOOL game. But, lesson learned……
Michael I don’t even think that Howie has more then ten hits, and I don’t like Crawford defense, but he just came back, and he is having better at bats, then Howie.
Crawford has at least squared the ball up a few times. Culberson at this point is a better option the Kendrick……
What a revolting development. The less said about our “offense” the better…but bringing in Baez with RISP has seldom turned out well.
Baez has actually been pitching well……..Hatcher would have been gas on the fire, but the big mistake was sending Maeda back out there in the first place……He had not made more than 98 pitches in any game, and was at 91 when the inning started……..looked shockingly like Kershaw’s meltdown on Monday…..but it should have been 3-2…….letting Gordon bluff him into a balk was stupid…
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