Steve Webb
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The first game of this World Series rematch turned out to be a bit of a dud from the Dodgers’ perspective. More frustration at the plate, more runners left on base, and another middling start from Noah Syndergaard in a 9-3 loss to the Rays.
The Dodgers’ main offseason pitching acquisition continues to eat innings, but he’s still getting hit way too hard. The Rays’ hitters were getting a lot of solid contact in the early innings, and scored runs in each of the first four innings. In the end it was a six-inning outing for Syndergaard, during which he got touched up for six earned runs on eight hits. Thor’s 2023 ERA now sits at an uncomfortable 6.23.
“Just not a lot of positive emotion right now when I think about pitching, in particular,” Syndergaard said after the game. “It’s just hard going out there with the weapons you used to have kind of being taken away from you, and throwing what I’m possessing right now is not enough to successfully battle a team like that. But [I’ll] just continue to work my butt off in between starts to snap out of this.”
As for the offense, it was another day of missed opportunities. The team got plenty of hits, but mostly singles. In fact, the only extra-base hit of the entire game was a Chris Taylor double in the 8th inning when the game was pretty much out of reach. Meanwhile, Max Muncy continues to struggle with runners on base. One clutch hit from him early on, and this would have been a completely different ballgame. Since his power surge in the early days in May, Muncy is 2-for-27 with RISP. Not great, Bob.
So the Dodgers fall to 3-5 on this road trip. They’ll need to take the last two from the Rays to end with a .500 record. But, all things considered, .500 during this sticky patch of games would be a victory of sorts.
Clayton Kershaw, back from bereavement leave, will throw on Saturday. It’ll be a 1:10 start on the West Coast as Kersh locks horns with Tyler Glasnow, fresh off the IL and making his first start of the season. Then, on Sunday, get ready for breakfast baseball with an 8:30 am game start time here in California to finish off the longest road trip of the year.
