Walked off again! Aguilar bomb sends Dodgers to third straight loss

MIAMI — The Dodgers need to take a mulligan on this whole trip to South Florida. It’s been three nights of bobbles, blown leads, and exasperation. Tonight, the parade of pain marched on. The Dodgers took an early lead on a big third inning and then little by little watched the lead slip away until the bottom of the ninth, when slugger Jesus Aguilar broke a 6-6 tie by blasting an Edwin Uceta pitch over the the left center field fence for a three-run walk-off homer. It was the latest in a string of humiliating defeats at the hands of the last-place Marlins. As far as the Dodgers are concerned, this road trip could not end soon enough.

Bullpen gives up two solo shots early

Dave Roberts went with another bullpen game on Wednesday night in LoanDepot Park. Of course, his hand was forced into it by the continued absence of Trevor Bauer (thanks, pal!) and the announcement today that Clayton Kershaw is headed for a short stint on the IL due to forearm inflammation. Nevertheless, Roberts ran recent call-up Jake Reed out there for his first major league start. It went okay, at first, but Reed was unable to put a zero on the board. Garrett Cooper dinged him for a two-out solo shot to put the Fish on the board. Mitch White was the next man up out of the bullpen, and he too gave up a solo home run in the second before he settled down to pitch a pretty decent four innings of work.

Dodgers score five in a big third innning

The Dodgers, on the other hand, got to work in the top of the third inning. And it was home run fever in that inning. AJ Pollock led off with a homerun, which was followed by a Mookie Betts solo shot, which was followed by a Justin Turner three-run blast. The power display resulted in five runs and was the best inning they’ve had since arriving in Florida.

However, there was too much ball game left and the Dodgers didn’t tack on any more runs when they had the chance. The Marlins got two back off Mitch White, one unearned (thanks, Gavin Lux!), and then they added another in the sixth when Phil Bickford gave up Garrett Cooper’s second home run of the night. Tie ball game.

Kenley gives up the go-ahead run in the eighth

Not having a lot of great bullpen options, Dave Roberts was forced to go to Kenley Jansen earlier than he probably would have liked when he brought him in for the bottom of the eighth inning. There was more fielding hijinks, this time a catcher’s interference by Austin Barnes, and before the inning was over, Jesus Sanchez had slapped an opposite field single to right to score Magnerius Sierra with the go-ahead run.

Zach attack for the tie

Now down 6-5, the Dodgers sent the bottom end of the the batting order to the plate in the ninth. After pinch-hitter Will Smith struck out, Zach McKinstry came to the plate for his first at-bat of the night. McKinstry was hitting in the nine hole and had entered the game to play left as part of an earlier double switch. This time, all the maneuvering worked in the Dodgers’ favor, as McKinstry was able to barrel up a pitch from reliever Anthony Bender. He was able to deposit the ball over the right field fence and suddenly it was a new ball game. 6-6 tie.

Uceta gives up game-winning blast

Edwin Uceta came into the game for the bottom of the ninth and promptly surrendered a single to light-hitting catcher Sandy Leon. Jazz Chisholm sacrificed Leon to second, and the runner was now in scoring position with one man out. Uceta (wisely) gave Starling Marte and intentional pass, and then got Magnerius Sierra to strike out for the inning’s second out. Uceta only needed one more out to send the game into extra innings for the second straight night.

He would have to do it against one the the Marlins’ biggest power threats, big Jesus Aguilar. He got ahead of Aguilar with a whiff on a nice change-up, but then the pitch that would cost him: he sent a sinker toward the plate that, you guessed it, did NOT sink. Instead it got belted into the lower tank in right center field. A three-run walk-off home run. 9-6 final score. End of story.

One more in Miami, then home for the D’backs

The Dodgers are now 2-4 against the struggling Marlins. Julio Urias heads to the mound to try to put an end to this foolishness tomorrow morning. A noon start in Florida means a 9:00 am start in these parts, so get your coffee ready for Thursday and enjoy. Surely we can’t get swept by the Marlins, can we? Can we though?