Dodgers Recap: Dodgers get walked off, wasting a dominant start by Yamamoto

ST. LOUIS — After his worst start of the season, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound for the Dodgers to not only get redemption from his last start but also to get the Dodgers back in the win column. But the Dodgers offense continued to not give Yamamoto run support as they dropped game two to the Cardinals 2-1 after some late innings hijinx.

Top of the third

With two outs, Shohei Ohtani drew a walk. Mookie Betts moved Ohtani to third base with a soft hit ball that dropped into center field, putting a runner into scoring position. Freddie Freeman worked the count full and took a walk, loading the bases for Will Smith. After working the count full, Smith hit a weak fly ball to centerfield, leaving the bases full. It was a scenario that would be repeated again and again throughout the game.

Top of the fifth

Hyeseong Kim led off the fifth inning with an opposite field single and stole second getting himself in scoring position with Ohtani coming up to bat. Just like the third inning the Dodgers couldn’t produce a hit to score a runner.

Bottom of the seventh

Yamamoto’s day was done after six scoreless innings, and Alex Vesia came in for relief. Yoshi’s line for the day: 94P / 61S / 6IP / 0H / 0ER / 2BB / 9K / 14 swing and miss. In eight of the thirteen starts by Yamamoto this year, the Dodgers offense has produced either one or zero runs while he was on the mound. Not what you want.

Bottom of the eighth

Ben Casparius came in to the bottom of the eighth, and the young right-hander wasn’t as sharp as we’re used to seeing him. He got the first out on the first pitch, but then things went sideways. Masyn Winn singled on the next pitch, followed by a Brendan Donovan single two pitches later.  With Cardinal runners now on first and second, Casparius got Wilson Contreras to pop out to shallow right for the second out of the inning. Then disaster struck. Alec Burleson hit a ground ball back to Casparius that Ben couldn’t field cleanly. He scrambled after it, and his ill-advised throw to Freeman for the third out brought Freddie off the base. Winn saw what was going on and took advantage, scampering home with the game’s first run.

Top of the ninth

What a weird inning. Ryan Helsley came in for the save and quickly got a strikeout of Hyeseong Kim to start the inning. Shohei hit a ground ball up the middle that looked like a surefire out until it hit the second base bag and bounced high in the air, giving Ohtani a single. Mookie Betts came through with a single of his own, and suddenly, the Dodgers had something cooking with runners on the corners. Next up was Freddie Freeman, who struck out on a nasty pitch in the dirt. But the pitch got by the catcher and bounced to the backstop. The wild pitch allowed Shohei to score, and the game was knotted up again. Will Smith had a chance to put the Dodgers ahead, but he too struck out, and we went into the bottom of the ninth all tied up with the Cardinals looking for a walk off.

Bottom of the ninth

Nolan Gorman led off hitting a ground-rule double to right field, putting himself in scoring position with no outs. Pedro Pagés hit a sacrifice bunt that moved Gorman to third after another throwing error to first base by Casparius. With the winning run now at third, Dave Roberts brought in a fifth infielder to face the pinch-hitting Nolan Arenado. Arenado then walked it off with a lazy fly ball to the vacated left field, scoring the game winner.

The Dodgers got walked off, wasting a dominant start by Yamamoto. The offense went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. Dave Roberts will need to have a serious talk with his players to get them back on track.

Tomorrow’s game will be another early start for the West Coast. First pitch will be at 11:15 AM PDT and can be watched on SportsNet LA.

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