Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Around trade deadline time, there is always a little buzz around the stadium as new players are added to the roster in the final push to the postseason. The Dodgers got a foretaste of that when they welcomed back utilityman Kiké Hernandez to the fold. Unfortunately, the addition of Hernandez to the lineup did not yield any more offense, as the Dodgers were quiet all afternoon, dropping the rubber game of the series to the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 8-1.
The first three innings of this one featured four hits from both squads, but the Dodgers were unable to convert any of the hits into runs, leaving the bases loaded in the second when Freddie Freeman struck out on three pitches. Meanwhile, Tony Gonsolin was again far too wild, walking two and hitting one batsman. This led to more traffic on the bases than anyone cared for, and allowed the Jays to plate a couple of runs in the early going, scoring single runs in the second and third.
However, the Dodgers just couldn’t seem to solve lefty Yusei Kikuchi. The Jays starter continued his nice run this summer with another stellar start. He went six innings, and the lone Dodger run came right at the tail end of his outing when James Outman continued his hot July by hitting an RBI single to drive in Chris Taylor in the sixth. Other than that, nothing but goose eggs in the scorebook for Kikuchi. Kikuchi now has a nifty 2.82 ERA in his last seven starts, and is looking more and more like someone the Jays can rely on down the stretch.
In the bottom of the fourth, though, we had our first Kiké hit of the new era when Hernandez led off the inning with an infield single. Sadly, he was stranded at first as James Outman struck out and Miguel Rojas hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Then in the top of the fifth, the game sort of went south on Gonsolin. Approaching 100 pitches, Gonsolin labored to get through the inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Bo Bichette, who has basically been on base all the time in this series after sitting out the opener.
During the next at-bat, former Dodger skipper Don Mattingly (now the Jays’ bench coach) was none too pleased with some of home plate ump Ben Mays calls at the dish and was promptly ejected for his efforts. Belt ended up flying out, but Gonsolin was far from out of the woods against this stacked lineup. Vlad Jr. hit a single of his own to put runners at first and second, but when Matt Chapman flied out, it seemed like Gonsolin might have an escape hatch for the inning. Unfortunately, the next hitter, Whit Merrifield, went yard on an 0-2 pitch, and the Dodgers found themselves in an 0-5 hole. Gonsolin’s final line of the day on career-high 109 pitches: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Suboptimal.
Things didn’t go much better with the bullpen. Alex Vesia gave up a solo shot to catcher Danny Jansen in his one inning of work, and then new call-up Tyson Miller pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, but gave up a two-run single to Bo Bichette (that man again!) in the eighth. For their part, the Dodgers couldn’t get much going against the Toronto pen, going quietly to defeat in this one. However, before it was over, Kiké managed to rip a solid single to left, ending the day for him at 2-for-4. A solid debut (part II).
So the Dodgers lose their first series since the beginning of the month, when they dropped two of three to the Royals in Kansas City. They one final series in July, with the surprising Cincinnati Reds here at the Ravine. The series gets underway after an off-day on Thursday, with Bobby Miller back on the bump. 7:10 first pitch.
