Dodgers bats MIA in shut-out loss to Houston

LOS ANGELES — The capacity crowd at Dodger Stadium was amped up and ready to boo and hiss the Astros* on this much anticipated Tuesday night. And they did plenty of both, letting the visiting Astros* know, in particular Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, exactly what they thought of them. Unfortunately, the home team gave them precious little to cheer about. The Dodgers offense only managed five hits the entire night. Ace Walker Buehler surrendered just one run, but Victor Gonzalez gave up a two-run homer late, and the Dodgers’ fate was sealed. It was a 3-0 loss in a dud of a game at Chavez Ravine.

McCullers sharp in quality start

Credit where credit is due; Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. simply outdueled Buehler in this game. The Dodgers had a few scoring opportunities along the way, but McCullers always left the Dodgers shaking their head at the end of the inning. In all the Dodgers left ten men on base, far more than they should have, and numerous Dodger hitters were at the plate with a chance to knock in a tying or go-ahead run.

Buehler sunk by lack of run support

Instead, nothing. The Dodgers came up empty with every scoring chance they had, and were shut out for only the third time all year. Walker Buehler was not at his best, but he pitched plenty well enough to win if he’d gotten a little run support. The perfect example of the Dodgers futility at the plate came in the fifth inning, when Buehler hit for himself and led off with a single up the middle. Exactly how you want to start an inning with Betts, Muncy, and Turner coming up. But alas, Buehler never moved from first as the Dodgers big bats were shut down in short order by McCullers. It was that kind of night. Although we do need to give Betts some props for another fantastic play at second base, robbing Michael Brantley of a hit.

The lone blemish on Buehler’s permanent record on Tuesday came in the top of the third inning. He gave up a lead off double to Martin Maldonado and then, with two out gave up a second double to Michael Brantley that scored Maldonado. And that was it.

Bullpen gives up a homer late

It wasn’t Buehler’s most efficient outing. He went only six innings, and this inefficiency might have caused manager Dave Roberts to use some bullpen pieces earlier than he would have liked. He called on Blake Treinen in the seventh, and he did just fine, but Victor Gonzalez came on in the eighth and surrendered a two-run home run to Yordan Alvarez that put the game on ice for Houston.

There were some hijinks in the stands, and several inflatable trash cans made it to the field, but for the most part it was all in good fun. Toward the end of the game, a couple of minor scuffles broke out in the stands, but it seemed like overall the crowd got to vent and didn’t cause that much trouble.

Standings remain unchanged

Luckily, the Giants lost as well, so no impact was felt in the pennant race, but sooner or later the Dodgers are going to have to start winning these tight games against quality teams or we can get ready for a wild card game in October. Mr. Max Scherzer makes his Dodger debut on Wednesday night, taking the ball against veteran Jake Odorizzi. Game time, 6;40 pm. Hopefully, the Dodgers can get a split and get back on track.