Dodgers fall back to familiar ways in loss to Angels

Baseball is a simple game really. Get ’em on, move ’em over, knock ’em in. Unfortunately, for the last month it seems, the Dodgers have been having a HUGE problem with the final part of that formula. They’re getting plenty of baserunners on base. They’re even moving them into scoring position with some regularity. But for the life of them, they are just horrible at bringing their baserunners around to score. Today, the futility in that department was on full display in a 2-1 loss to the Angels down in Anaheim.

Mother’s Day Matinee in Anaheim

It was Mother’s Day on Sunday, so that meant all the Mother’s Day finery was on display at the game. Pink socks. Pink wristbands. Pink chest protectors for the catchers. Sadly, this change of color did little to change the Dodgers’ hitting fortunes today. They hit 1-11 with runners in scoring position, and left a dozen runners stranded on base. Just a hit or two in the right moment could have made Trevor Bauer a winner today.

Bauer certainly pitched well enough to win. He had his fastball totally under control on Sunday. Even after a hundred-plus pitches, he had enough left in the tank to blow a heater past Mike Trout in his final inning of work. He takes a hard-luck loss today.

Dodgers take early lead thanks to CT3

His counterpart, Jose Quintana of the Angels was pretty wild, and gave the Angels multiple baserunners in the first four innings, surrendering two hits and five walks. The Dodgers had the bases loaded in the first inning, but in a sign of things to come, they left them all stranded when Chris Taylor flied to left. The team got their one and only run in the top of the third inning. After Justin Turner and Max Muncy had walked earlier in the inning, Chris Taylor again came to the plate with two outs. This time, Taylor ripped a solid single to center to score Turner. It was 1-0 Dodgers for the briefest of moments. The inning ended five pitches later on a Sheldon Neuse flyout and it was the Angels’ turn to score.

One inning costs Bauer

The Angels got two runs off the Dodgers in the bottom of the third inning on a little mini-rally for which Bauer had partly himself to blame. Phil Gosselin led off with a sharp single to right field. Then, after a strikeout to Drew Butera, Gosselin was caught stealing second. Suddenly there were two outs, nobody on. Groovy. Bauer only had to get David Fletcher out and he was out of the inning. But the scrappy Fletcher managed an infield single in Gavin Lux‘s direction, and Bauer was staring into the heart of the Angels’ batting order: sluggers Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Jared Walsh.

Pitching carefully, Bauer was a little too dainty with his pitches and ending up walking both Ohtani and Trout on five pitches each. Then, on a 2-2 count, Jared Walsh ripped a ground rule double to right that scored both Fletcher and Trout. It was 2-1 Angels.

And that one hit–that two-out, two-strike, two-run double–was enough to win on Saturday. Bauer gave up nothing else the rest of the way. His final line for the afternoon: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 9K. Another great start wasted by a failure to score even a handful of runs.

Bullpen sharp

If the Dodgers had managed to score another couple of runs somewhere along the way, it would have most likely held up. The Dodger relievers were good today in their two innings of work. Victor Gonzalez gave up only an infield hit in the seventh, and Kenley Jansen struck out two in a scoreless eighth, but it didn’t really matter. The Angels already had plenty of runs to win the game.

Losing Road Trip is Over

So this rotten road trip is finally over. The Dodgers managed just two wins in ten games. And the facts as they stand right now are pretty grim: The Dodgers are 5-15 in their last twenty. Their record now sits just one game above .500, at 18-17. They haven’t won a series since the middle of last month. So what will the future hold for the team when they start their homestand against Seattle on Tuesday night? Hard to say, but in the words of Yogi Berra, it gets late early around here.

After the big win on Saturday, Clayton Kershaw said the following: “In my opinion. . . you figure it out right now. Don’t wait. Don’t get complacent with it. Don’t think that it’s a long (season). Figure it out today. Last season taught us that a little bit. For me personally, I think every game matters. Whether it’s May or September, all the wins count the same.”

Dear Dodgers: LISTEN. TO. CLAYON.

PLEASE.