Dodgers sleepwalk through loss in finale

ST. LOUIS — The good news: the Dodgers’ pitching staff held the Cardinals to just two runs on five hits. The bad news: the Dodger hitters continue to scuffle at the plate, and only managed one run on four hits. It was a performance of a team playing out the string in September, not a team vying for the best record in baseball. Losing to the Cardinals 2-1 on this Thursday matinee, the Dodgers have to settle for a split of the four-game series with the Redbirds and drop another half-game behind idle San Francisco in the standings.

Gonsolin back on the bump

The return of Tony Gonsolin took some pressure of the overtaxed LA bullpen. He started the game, and though he was on a pitch count in this game, he did manage to make it through three innings without much incident. He struggled a bit with control, walking two of the fourteen hitters he faced. The biggest trouble he got in was in the second inning when he gave up one run on a pair of doubles and a walk. It could have been worse in that inning, but Max Muncy made a nice throw to the plate to gun down Paul DeJong. The final line for the Cat Man today: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 K.

Two-out rally ties the game in the third

The Dodgers got that run back in the top of the third when they put together a nice two-out rally. After a couple of quick outs, Mookie Betts drew a walk and then moved to third on a Max Muncy double. This brought Trea Turner to the plate. For this game, Trea swapped positions in the batting order with Betts and was hitting third. The move seemed to have worked. After Betts and Muncy set the table, Turner ripped a single through the left side to score Mookie and tie the game.

The Dodgers could have gotten more after a Justin Turner walk loaded up the bases, but Cody Bellinger happened. He still remains a liability at the plate and his flyout to end this bases-load threat was about par for the course for the struggling slugger.

O’Neill homer provides the winning margin

The final scoring of the day by either team came in the bottom of the fifth. After reliever Phil Bickford got a couple of quick outs, Tyler O’Neill crushed a 1-0 slider over the left field fence to give the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage. Though the workhorse Bickford has generally been good this year, that home run pushed Bickford’s ERA in the last seven appearances to 5.06. It may be that all the innings are starting to take their toll on Bickford, who has never pitched this much in his big-league career.

Dodgers go quietly

The offense didn’t really get anything going for the rest of the game. In fact, the biggest excitement in the last for AB’s for the Dodgers was the ovation that Albert Pujols got when he came off the bench for a pinch-hit walk. The St. Louis faithful rose to their feet as one, cheering what could be the Machine’s final at bat of his career in Busch stadium. It wasn’t quite the storybook ending that anyone was hoping for, as the at-bat ended in a walk, and Pujols was left stranded at first. But it was good to see the fans acknowledge their hero one last time.

Kenley pitches a strong eighth inning

If we are digging around for good news, we could probably say that Kenley Jansen looked very sharp pitching the eighth inning. It had been several days since the big man last saw any action, so his efficient and in-control performance bodes well for the next time that he’ll be needed. Other than that, not much good has come out of the last 48 hours. The Dodgers hitters continue to struggle, and the pitching can only do so much to paper over an offense that seems intent on not scoring runs. With high-scoring San Diego coming into town on the weekend, it’s something that they had better get fixed. QUICKLY.