Dustin May struggles as Dodgers fall to Giants for 7th straight loss
SAN FRANCISCOΒ βΒ The Dodgers finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night.
Too bad it didnβt happen until they were already down six runs.
For the first time in a week, the highest-scoring offense in baseball finally rediscovered its high-flying form, handing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb his worst start all season while sending shivers up the spine of the orange-clad contingent at Oracle Park.
But by the time it happened, the club had already dug a hole too deep for even its star-studded lineup to climb out of, unable to completely erase an early six-run deficit in a 8-7 loss to their division rivals β sending the Dodgers to a seven-game losing streak that now marks the their longest skid since September 2017.
βI like the fight. I thought one through nine, there were good at-bats in there, scored some runs, had a chance to win again,β manager Dave Roberts said. βAnd unfortunately, on the pitching side, we just couldnβt prevent enough.β
Friday, of course, never figured to favor the Dodgers given the difference in caliber of the starting pitching matchup.
On one side stood Webb, the crafty and relentless All-Star right-hander who has largely dominated the Dodgers in his seven-year career.
On the other was Dustin May, the once-promising Dodgers right-hander who has yet to realize his tantalizing potential in what has been his first fully healthy big-league season so far.
Still, for a little while on a cold night along the San Francisco Bay, little separated the two sinker-ball specialists, the Dodgers and Giants locked in the kind of close contest that has been the hallmark of this rivalry in recent years.
In the top of the third, Shohei Ohtani even put the Dodgers in front, splashing his NL-leading 32nd home run of the season into McCoveyβs Cove beyond right field for only the eighth-ever splash-down home run by a Dodger player in Oracle Park history.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Giants on Friday.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
But eventually, May came unglued, giving up seven runs in less than five innings as the Giants surged out to an 8-2 lead. And though the Dodgers (56-39) eventually got back within one, tagging Webb with a season-high six runs in the process, they came up empty their final couple trips to the plate, wasting plenty of positive subplots in another losing story.
βToday we were able to string some hits together, put some innings together,β shortstop Mookie Betts said. βBut we just come up short.β
After starting his night with increased fastball velocity and ruthless assault of the strike zone, May lost his command in the fourth inning.
Rafael Devers walked on four pitches to start the inning. Matt Chapman received another free pass despite a mid-at-bat mound visit from catcher Will Smith. And with one out, Jung Hoo Lee laced a two-run triple over the outstretched glove of Teoscar HernΓ‘ndez, who returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a foot contusion but still seemed hobbled while trying to track the ball down in the right-field gap.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants on Friday.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
βJust got a little bit out of sync, couldnβt time things back up,β May said of his delivery, which has teetered between flashes of dominance and stretches of frustration during his return from a second career elbow surgery.
βDuring my warm-up throws in the fourth, it felt a little off. Trying to get my foot down a little earlier didnβt really help. Thatβs been a cue. But yeah, it just went bad.β
Things got worse in the fifth, when the Giants (52-43) plated five more while sending 10 batters to the plate.
Dominic Smith led the inning off with a homer. May then gave up a single and two walks to promptly load the bases. The Dodgers missed their chance to escape the inning, when Hyeseong Kim failed to turn a difficult but potential inning-ending double-play quickly enough at second base.
And after that, May was replaced by Anthony Banda, who was greeted with another two-run triple by Willy Adames (who had already homered to open the scoring in the second inning) and a run-scoring infield single from Lee, who outraced Banda to first base to punctuate a painfully long inning.
βTo win a big-league ballgame is tough, but youβve still got to pitch well, youβve got to catch it and youβve got to take good at-bats,β Roberts said. βIf all three of those things donβt line up in one night, itβs hard to get a win.β
Mookie Betts grimaces in pain after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Giants on Friday night.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
It was at that point, coming off a six-game stretch in which theyβd scored 10 total runs, that the Dodgersβ bats finally came to life.
In the top of the sixth, Teoscar HernΓ‘ndez launched a two-run double that Lee couldnβt quite corral on the run at the warning track, before Michael Conforto followed with a two-run homer that chased Webb from the game and got the score back within two.
In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Betts slid into third after hitting another ball just beyond Leeβs reach in center and later scored on Smithβs RBI single.
βItβs definitely more encouraging,β said Betts, who has been among the coldest hitters in the Dodgers lineup lately. βI canβt speak for everyone. But I havenβt done anything this whole time β¦ Just to get us going, get some hits there, thatβs the positive that you can take out of it.β
In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Mookie Betts slid into third on an error after hitting another ball just beyond Leeβs reach in center, and later scored on Will Smithβs RBI single.
That, however, was as close as the Dodgers would come. Smith was left stranded to end the seventh. Kimβs two-out double in the eighth was squandered. And, in the most frustrating of endings, a two-on, one-out opportunity in the ninth went by the wayside when Smith rolled into a double play.
The division lead is down to four.
And as the Dodgers continue to stumble toward the All-Star break, moral victories remain the only wins in sight.
βI know it sucks, but you have to try to take some positive out of it,β Betts said. βAt least we battled back.β
