WASHINGTON — Andrew Alvarez pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, and the Washington Nationals earned a 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Angels on Saturday when CJ Abrams scored on an error despite another bullpen collapse.
Andrés Chaparro’s single off Angels closer Ben Joyce tied it in the bottom of the ninth. Abrams scored an inning later against José Fermín (4-3) when shortstop Zach Neto could not handle Harry Ford’s grounder with the infield in. The Angels fell to 4-14 in extra innings.
Before that, the Angels rallied to a 5-4 lead while handing Washington’s bullpen a record-extending 39th blown save. Vaughn Grissom connected for a two-run homer in a three-run eighth against Brad Lord, and Wade Meckler, Denzer Guzman and Moisés Ballesteros also had RBIs.
Washington’s Abimelec Ortiz hit a two-run single during a three-run second. Jacob Young and Keibert Ruiz also drove in runs to help Washington to a 4-0 lead against Angels ace Walbert Ureña, who gave up four runs and a season-high nine hits in six innings.
Alvarez struck out a career-best eight — including three-time MVP Mike Trout twice — while working around four walks and Jose Siri’s sixth-inning double inside the left-field line.
The 27-year-old Alvarez threw 61 of 97 pitches for strikes in his 20th and longest career start, retiring 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.
Jack Sinclair (1-0) retired four batters for his first career win.
Cam Schlitter gave up one run and two hits in eight superb innings, and the New York Yankees scored five two-out runs in the 10th in a series-clinching, 6-3 victory over the Angels on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
New York loaded the bases with one out in the 10th when Jose Caballero singled, the automatic runner holding at third, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked against reliever Luke Murphy (0-2).
Murphy got Luis Garcia Jr. to pop out, but Austin Wells stroked a two-run single to right, Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to center, Trent Grisham hit an RBI single to left, and Ben Rice had an RBI single to right for a 6-1 lead.
David Bednar (7-3) struck out three in a scoreless ninth for the win. Yankees reliever Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run homer to Moisés Ballesteros in the bottom of the 10th, but New York won its second straight after dropping the opener, despite enthusiasm in Anaheim over an announced agreement for Arte Moreno to sell the team to Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
A marquee matchup between two of baseball’s best pitchers did not disappoint, Schlittler striking out nine and walking none, and Angels left-hander Reid Detmers giving up one run and six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking none.
Schlittler, who has an American League-leading 2.04 ERA, retired 20 of the first 21 batters he faced, his only blemish a soft single to left by Vaughn Grissom in the second inning.
But Schlittler grooved a 95-mph cutter to Grissom in the seventh, and the Angels first baseman drove it over the center-field wall for a a 1-1 tie.
It was Schlittler’s franchise-record 19th start this season in which he has given up one or no runs, moving him ahead of Ron Guidry (1978), Whitey Ford (1964) and Jack Chesbro (1904), who had 18 each.
Detmers, who has a major league-best 1.52 ERA since the All-Star break, gave up a run in the fourth on Amed Rosario’s double.
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the sixth when a 79.5-mph line drive off the bat of Rice hit a photographer in the head in the first-base camera well. The photographer was able to walk to a medical emergency vehicle and shake Rice’s hand before being carted away.
The Dodgers’ August woes followed them into the first day of September.
Roster expansion, returning three players from the injured list, the mental relief of turning the calendar page — none of that gave the Dodgers the boost they needed against the Cardinals on Tuesday.
Instead, the Dodgers lost 13-8 to a team that entered the day 4 ½ games out of the last National League wild-card spot.
“I just think tonight we just got behind the eight ball,” manager Dave Roberts said.
During the Dodgers’ past seven series (following a high-scoring trip to Chicago), their rotation has recorded a top-five ERA (2.97) in the majors. But on Tuesday, left-hander Eric Lauer coughed up seven runs in three innings.
Dodgers second baseman Alex Freeland chases the ball as the Cardinals’ Nathan Church hits an RBI in the third inning Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
It was a personal outlier as well in Lauer’s time with the Dodgers. Lauer had given up more than three runs in just two other outings since the Dodgers acquired him from the Blue Jays in mid-May, and Tuesday marked his shortest start.
“I felt good warming up, felt good in the bullpen, then got out there and kind of just lost it,” Lauer said. “And you know it’s one of those things where you try to make adjustments and you try to work on things between, and I think I might have been just tinkering a little too much in between and getting outside of myself. So I think really just focusing on what I do well and repeating that and not trying to get too fancy and getting back to the basics is really all I can do.”
The Dodgers had briefly moved Lauer from the rotation into the bullpen, but he reclaimed his starting role when right-hander Roki Sasaki landed on the IL last week with a blister on his right middle finger.
Lauer’s start Tuesday began to go downhill in the second inning when he gave up back-to-back solo homers to Ramón Urias and Thomas Saggese with two outs.
Those two runs could have been quickly forgotten if Lauer had gotten back on track. The next inning, however, he surrendered five runs as the Cardinals kept chipping away with five singles, a hit batter, a walk and a sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers struck back in the bottom half of the inning — but not exactly with authority.
Mookie Betts’ bases-clearing double was assisted by a Cardinals defensive miscue. Right fielder Jordan Walker and second baseman José Fermín both raced after Betts’ shallow fly. As Fermín dashed back, Walker slid to attempt the catch — and took out Fermín’s feet from under him.
The ball fell to the ground. With two outs, Dodgers baserunners were going on contact and all three crossed the plate before Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson could retrieve the ball and throw it.
Betts’ bat stayed hot. And he contributed another RBI double in the fifth — this one smoked up the left-field line to drive in one run. But it didn’t do much to put a dent in the Cardinals’ lead.
The Cardinals continued to tack on against the Dodgers’ bullpen, powered by three more home runs, off right-hander Seth Halvorsen, lefty Alex Vesia and lefty Justin Wrobleski, fresh off the injured list.
Dodgers utility player Kiké Hernández pitches during the ninth inning of a blowout loss to the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Catcher Will Smith, who the Dodgers also activated from the IL Tuesday, put the ball in the air in his first four at-bats and was finally rewarded in the seventh inning with an RBI double. He drove in another run in the ninth, grounding into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, as part of a three-run last-ditch rally.
“I think that there were some positives with the at-bats,” Roberts said. “I liked some of the swings. I like taking walks when given to us. I like being able to push and runs across.”
All four players who the Dodgers activated on Tuesday appeared in the game. In addition to Smith and Wrobleski, second baseman Alex Freeland (recalled from triple A) started the game, and Dalton Rushing (reinstated from the IL) struck out in his lone pinch-hit at-bat. Rushing will provide a left-handed bat off the bench until he’s graduated from his throwing program and built up on the defensive side.
The score was so lopsided by the ninth inning that utility player Kiké Hernández took the mound to finish the game — but without his signature pitching helmet.
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Juriensly De Windt and Shardijon De Lanoi combined to drive in six runs, and Curaçao won its second Little League World Series title, beating Nevada 11-2 in the championship game on Sunday.
De Windt started on the mound and gave up two runs in three innings. Giendry Ryan and Steven Felix were nearly flawless in relief with four strikeouts over the final three innings for the tiny island nation, which previously won the tournament in 2004.
Curaçao had advanced to the finals by winning the international title in 2005, 2019, 2022 and 2023. This time, the group from Pariba Little League in Willemstad had enough firepower from the mound and at the plate to beat the U.S. champion.
Curaçao went unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament before overcoming an early two-run deficit to the team from Henderson, Nev.
Ryan fanned four in 2⅓ innings. Felix forced Nevada’s final batter to pop out to Giendry in center field. Once the ball was safely in his glove, the celebration began.
Giendry tossed his glove in the air as his teammates swarmed him in the outfield. Curaçao’s infielders showered each other with water as a pack of fans tucked behind the third base dugout waved the Curaçao flag.
They were quiet early as it looked like Nevada, the first U.S. team to advance to the championship without a home run, would finally crack Curaçao’s standout pitchers.
Following a bunt from Nevada’s Michael Kleiner, Maddox Bryan hit a line drive to center field, driving in two runs.
Curaçao tied it when De Lanoi lined a ball off the glove of a diving Kleiner at second base.
The international champions took the lead for good on a two-run double by Jaymiell Martina in the fourth. De Windt added a bases-clearing hit in the fifth.
Nevada also was the runner-up last year, falling to Taiwan in the championship game.
Kyle Schwarber hit a go-ahead RBI double and Trea Turner had a two-run single in the 10th inning in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 4-2 victory over the Angels on Saturday night.
Phillies closer Jhoan Duran (2-4) threw a scoreless ninth and gave up an unearned run in the 10th as Philadelphia won for the 12th time in 14 games. The Angels (52-84) have lost six straight.
The top of the 10th began with automatic runner Brandon Marsh getting thrown out at third on J.T. Realmuto’s grounder to short off Angels reliever Trevor Martin (0-1). Justin Crawford singled, advancing Realmuto to third.
Schwarber blooped an RBI single to left-center for a 2-1 lead, Crawford taking third and Schwarber second on the throw. Turner squibbed a grounder through the right side of a drawn-in infield for a two-run single and a 4-1 lead.
Angels shortstop Zach Neto capped a 12-pitch at-bat in the eighth with a solo homer off Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan, tying the score 1-all and snapping a string of 30 consecutive innings without an extra-base hit for the Angels.
Neto’s 23rd homer spoiled a superb start by Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, who allowed two hits, struck out eight–bringing his season total to 202–and walked one in seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.52.
The Phillies (76-60) blew a chance to tack on to a 1-0 lead in the eighth, an inning that began with a Turner single and stolen base and a Harper walk. Turner was caught off the second-base bag and picked off.
Harper took second and third on a wild pitch, but Luis Arraez grounded to first, Harper holding. Harper was called safe on a daring steal of home off Martin, but the call was overturned by replay, ending the inning.
Angels starter Ryan Johnson managed to give up one run in five innings despite issuing four of his five walks and throwing 60 of his 88 pitches in the first two innings. The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the second when Alex Bohm singled, Bryson Stott walked and Marsh hit an RBI single.
Up next: Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (10-5, 3.40 ERA) was set to face Angels LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-4, 6.25) on Sunday in the series finale.
DETROIT — The same old story played out for the Dodgers on Saturday. They got a strong outing from their starting pitcher and an uninspiring performance by their offense, resulting in a close game.
This time the Dodgers lost, 2-1, despite left-hander Blake Snell’s five innings of one-run baseball.
The Dodgers’ last five games have been decided by one run. They’ve lost all but one of them.
It was Snell’s fourth game back from arthroscopic elbow surgery in May. He’s limited opponents to one run or none in every start. Saturday marked the first time he threw fewer than six innings since being activated this month.
He limited the Tigers to three hits and issued three walks. Four of those six baserunners reached before Snell briefly left the game in the third inning.
Snell had cruised through the first two innings, a Texas leaguer into shallow right field the only blemish on an otherwise perfect beginning.
The third inning, however, started to go haywire. Snell walked Javier Báez, traditionally a free swinger, to open the frame. Tigers rookie Max Clark laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy lost control of the ball as he tried to throw to first, enabling Clark to reach base as Báez advanced to second.
Against Gleyber Torres, Snell left a changeup too far over the plate for a ground-rule double. The high hop over the yellow line on the right-field fence saved a run, sending Clark back to third, but the Tigers pulled ahead 1-0.
Snell threw two pitches to Hao-Yu Lee and then, after a conversation with home plate umpire Chris Guccione, headed off the field and disappeared down the dugout tunnel.
There was no immediate explanation provided by the team or the umpires. Snell soon returned and resumed with a 1-and-1 count on Lee.
Snell got out of the inning without further damage, inducing Lee to pop out and, after walking Kevin McGonigle, striking out Dillon Dingler and Eduardo Valencia.
Snell made it six straight punch-outs by striking out the side in the fourth and kicking off a scoreless fifth with another. Snell’s outing ended with Dingler waving at an outside fastball for strike three.
The Dodgers’ offense, however, failed to give him run support. Through five innings, they mustered only two baserunners against Tigers starter Keider Montero.
In the sixth, they finally strung multiple hits together and got a run out of it. Alek Thomas led off with a double to left that ricocheted off the wall on a hop. Shohei Ohtani grounded out on a close play at first, moving Thomas to third. Then Freddie Freeman lined an RBI single to right.
The Dodgers went on to load the bases with one out. But, following a concerning pattern, they failed to squeeze any more runs out of the opportunity.
The Dodgers entered Saturday batting .211 with the bases loaded this month, putting them in the bottom third in the majors. When Tommy Edman grounded into a double play to end the sixth inning, it was their third with the bases loaded this month.
In the ninth, the Dodgers were a few feet from pulling ahead. With two outs and a runner on first, the Tigers brought in closer Kenley Jansen, the former Dodger, to face Teoscar Hernández.
In an 0-and-2 count, Hernández sent a cutter for a ride to deep left-center. But Báez made an over-the-shoulder catch a few steps from the wall.
Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer took the mound for the bottom half and, with runners on the corners, gave up a walk-off single to McGonigle.
The Dodgers (80-54), who were swept for the third time this month, are clinging to a one-game lead over the Braves (79-55) for the second-best record in the National League. They are three games behind the Milwaukee Brewers (83-51) for the best record in baseball.
“I wish we’d played better,” Roberts said. “I wish we’d have won the game. I wish we’d won the series. It didn’t happen. But right now, there’s nothing we can do but just go out there and keep trying to get better and win a baseball game [Friday].”
What was expected to be a pitchers’ duel between Dodgers rotation leader Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Sale lived up to the hype.
Yamamoto gave up a home run to Drake Baldwin on his first pitch, but he quickly settled in and gave up just three more hits while striking out eight over 6⅓ innings.
Sale was even better. He mowed down the Dodgers with 11 strikeouts, limiting them to five hits in nine innings.
The Dodgers went up against an even crisper version of Sale. His velocity was up, and the 100.1-mph fastball he threw to Shohei Ohtani the second time through the order was his hardest-thrown pitch since 2018, according to MLB.com.
“That guy, he’s doing things no one’s ever seen,” Sale told reporters after striking out Ohtani and holding him hitless in four at-bats. “Tit for tat, he’s probably the best I’ve ever seen. When you’re facing the best, you gotta bring your best. Tonight it worked out.
“You can’t hang your hat on that kind of stuff. You never anticipate or expect that because of who he is and his talent and what he brings to the table. This is a game of small battles. He’s going to win some, I’m gonna win some. When you’ve got a guy like that, you gotta step on the gas a little bit.”
The Dodgers have struggled at times since the All-Star break, but Will Smith’s return from injury and Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching should help.
Sale got a standing ovation when he walked out for the ninth inning. And Braves fans booed when a safe call at first withstood replay review instead of ending the game on a double play. But Sale remained and had an even bigger final moment of the game: one more strikeout.
“Sale had it, and we didn’t have much of an answer,” said Mookie Betts, the only Dodger with two hits. “We’ve been able to score runs [the last couple of months]. We might not score 10 a night, but we’re scoring runs and giving ourselves a chance to win games. We just got to figure out other ways to win and be able to push a couple more runs across and whatnot.”
Thursday marked the 13th one-run game the Dodgers have played this month. And the small margins seem to be taking a toll, as the Dodgers’ bullpen and defense have wavered.
The solution would seem to be to get the offense back to scoring in bunches. But that’s not a simple button the Dodgers can press, especially against pitchers of Sale’s caliber.
The Dodgers lost all three games in Atlanta by one run.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning Thursday.
(Erik S. Lesser / Associated Press)
“It seemed like we were always chasing,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to play from behind. Your margins are much thinner, smaller. And when you don’t capitalize on opportunities, then you come up on the short end. But like I said, they’re a good ballclub. They do things the right way. And we’ll look forward to seeing them in October.”
The Dodgers entered the series riding a six-game winning streak built against the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates. But it’s been a long time since they’ve beaten a good team. In fact, they haven’t won a series against any team that entered Thursday in playoff position since taking two of three from the Philadelphia Phillies from July 20-22.
In the interim, the Dodgers have gone 1-12 against teams in a playoff spot.
“I was thinking about it tonight: The game tests you,” Roberts said. “August is that third leg of a mile, and it’s the hardest leg, and you know we’ve got to get through it and grind. And there’s a new series, a new team. We’ve got [Tarik] Skubal going [Friday against the Detroit Tigers]. We’ve just got to flush it.”
Tucker takes day off
Roberts sat slumping right fielder Kyle Tucker against Sale.
“I didn’t want to feel like I’m piling on against a really tough starter,” Roberts said. “Get him ready for the weekend.”
But Roberts said that wasn’t a reflection of how he’d approach the postseason. If the Dodgers face the Braves in the playoffs, Roberts would expect to start Tucker in right field against Sale.
Roster move
As expected, the Dodgers put right-hander Roki Sasaki on the 15-day injured list because of a blister on the middle finger of his right hand and recalled hard-throwing reliever Seth Halvorsen.
“He’s probably our most rested reliever, and it’s going to come in hot,” Roberts said. “So I’m going to run him out there if the situation calls for it.”
DETROIT — Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani threw a bullpen Friday at Comerica Park before the team opened a three-game series against the Tigers, as scheduled. But it was not immediately clear if it put him in line to start Sunday.
“I really don’t know what to make of it because I didn’t put eyes on it,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “Obviously I’ve got to talk to Shohei, talk to [pitching coach Mark Prior] and then we’ll make a decision for Sunday. But again I have to have that conversation.”
Ohtani threw about 20 pitches in the side session, which Roberts noted was “short,” but he said he hadn’t had any expectations for pitch counts.
Ohtani’s between-start side sessions are usually closer to 30 pitches, but that alone isn’t necessarily a reason to sound the alarm, especially without a clearer picture of the initial plan for Friday’s session. The Dodgers will continue to monitor Ohtani’s recovery as well.
If he does start Sunday, it will likely be one inning in front of right-hander Tyler Glasnow, Roberts said.
Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 against the Padres, managing swelling and discomfort in his left knee.
Barring a setback, the schedule allows for Ohtani to make five starts on at least five days’ rest before the end of the season.
Glasnow, who threw five innings and 89 pitches on Tuesday in his first start back from the injured list, is scheduled to start on regular rest Sunday.
“Glas felt good going on regular,” Roberts said when asked why the Dodgers didn’t push his start to Tuesday, “and also looking at the calendar and where other guys line up.”
ATLANTA — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could see the kind of inning right-hander Tyler Glasnow had to begin his start Tuesday, plagued by soft contact and bad luck, derailing a younger version of him.
“That’s an outing that a couple years ago I think might have gotten away,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Braves, ending a six-game winning streak. “And I don’t think he would’ve been as efficient getting through the fifth like he did. But there’s just a lot of growth with Glas. Just can’t wait to see more. Like I told him after the start, it’s just really good to have him back.”
Glasnow’s return was a major step for the Dodgers as they assemble their postseason pitching staff. The next will be two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching — which could happen as soon as this weekend.
Ohtani is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday or Friday, pitching coach Mark Prior said. Then Ohtani and the Dodgers will finalize next steps. But Roberts didn’t rule out the possibility of Ohtani making a short start Sunday in Detroit.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Tuesday marked Glasnow’s first start since May 6 in Houston, when back spasms cut his outing short after one inning. He’d been pitching so well to start the year (2.72 ERA in seven starts) that the Dodgers hoped he could avoid the IL, even for precautionary reasons.
Instead, he did have to go on the IL and had to halt his throwing progression multiple times for flare-ups, prolonging his time on it.
Even so, in Glasnow’s last two weeks on the IL, he seemed “at peace” to Roberts. So, the manager was confident that the growth in mindset that the Dodgers had witnessed over the last year would carry through the down time.
“I felt that he just got to a place — and I don’t know if it was last year’s postseason or what — but the game slowed down,” Roberts said. “Nothing spiked him. I think there was just a maturity in how he went about things. Coming out of the [bullpen], something he’s never done … in the postseason, and performing the way he did. And then coming into this spring training, he just seemed like another level of confident, that I just felt it was palpable.
“So that translated into the season. And I was so bummed, like we all were, to see him go down.”
The Dodgers’ rotation weathered the loss of Glasnow and Blake Snell (arthroscopic elbow surgery) admirably. And both are back in time for the stretch run.
“It felt like a long time,” Glasnow said. “I think any time you’re out that long, just doing rehab the whole time, it definitely sucks. So it’s exciting to be able to get back. But I’m glad, too, my body’s in a spot where I felt like I was before.”
His stuff followed suit.
“Even with all the talent that we have on our roster, [Glasnow] might surpass it with his raw stuff, and the ability to shut down any team at any time,” Prior said before the game. “Do we expect that to be Day 1, today, who knows? We’re facing, obviously, one of the best teams in baseball. But it’s really good to have him back because he changes a lot of things with our personnel.”
Though Glasnow gave up four hits and three runs in the first inning, only one of those hits, Drake Baldwin’s leadoff single, was hit hard. The rest were simply hit where the Dodgers’ defense couldn’t field them.
He finally escaped by striking out Braves No. 7 hitter Mike Yastrzemski, with the help of a successful ABS challenge.
In that 35-pitch first inning, Glasnow threw the kitchen sink at the Braves. But that included a lot of first-pitch four-seam fastballs — and six straight fastballs to Baldwin.
“Coming out in the second, I just felt more in rhythm,” Glasnow said, “and slider was working a lot better, and just felt a lot better.”
Shohei Ohtani slides into third for a triple to lead off the ninth inning Tuesday.
(Erik S. Lesser / AP)
Glasnow leaned on that slider, making sure to throw it at different points in the count — “just trying to not be so predictable,” he said — pairing it with his four-seamer and sinker.
It took him just 13 pitches to strike out the side. He retired three straight batters in the third with roughly the same plan of attack.
In the fourth, he started mixing in his knuckle curve again, even ending the inning on that pitch and Austin Riley failed to check his swing on a curve that broke into the dirt, for strike three.
After that first inning, Glasnow gave up only two more hits. And in five innings, he recorded seven strikeouts.
“I thought all night long, he threw the ball fantastic,” Roberts said. “The stuff, the strikeouts, swing and miss, how he navigated that first inning to not let it spiral, reset. He did everything he could to prevent runs tonight.”
Glasnow left with the score tied. The bottom of the Dodgers’ lineup evened the score, with RBI singles from Alek Thomas, Hunter Feduccia and Alex Call.
The score remained knotted until the eighth inning, when Dodgers left-hander Tanner Scott gave up a leadoff double to Matt Olson — the first extra-base hit of the game — and a two-out RBI single to Ozzie Albies to give the Braves the lead.
“We’ve had to lean on our ‘pen, man, the last two months really,” Roberts said. “The last two months we’ve played a lot of one-, two-run ballgames. There’s no margin. I thought we pitched well enough to win tonight. Unfortunately it just didn’t happen.”
To open the ninth inning, Ohtani struck back with a triple off the left-field wall. But the Dodgers stranded him there against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias.
Noah Cameron pitched a one-hitter, Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr. hit home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Angels 3-0 on Sunday.
Cameron (7-8) struck out eight and walked one, throwing 115 pitches in nine innings. He gave up his only hit in the seventh, when Angels first baseman Vaughn Grissom singled high over the head of Witt.
Cameron retired his first 15 batters before issuing a leadoff walk to Oswald Peraza in the sixth. Peraza advanced on Travis d’Arnaud’s groundout before Josh Lowe struck out swinging and Zach Neto bounced to second.
He struck out Mike Trout leading off the seventh before Grissom’s single.
Massey hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the Royals (51-74), followed by Witt’s home run in the fifth to make it 2-0. Carter Jensen hit an RBI single in the seventh.
Ryan Johnson (2-7) pitched 5⅓ innings for the Angels (49-76), giving up five hits. He struck out four, walked two and finished with two earned runs.
Up next for the Angels: Visit the Houston Astros for a three-game series on Tuesday. RHP George Klassen (1-1, 5.52) starts for the Angels. RHP Cristian Javier (1-3, 6.68) starts for the Astros.
The Dodgers needed a pivotal win Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. And Tarik Skubal did his part, giving up just one earned run on seven hits over six innings.
“Seemed like they had a good approach,” Skubal, who threw a season-high 109 pitches. “My job doesn’t change. I got to continue to make pitches and continue to get ahead and throw strikes, and I felt like I did that.”
But it wasn’t enough.
Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson quashed the Dodgers’ offense, giving up just three hits and one run over seven innings, to give the Brewers a 6-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 45,828.
The Dodgers (74-51) lost the four-game series 3-1 and also dropped the season series against the Brewers 4-3. The Dodgers trail Milwaukee (77-48) by three games for the best record in baseball.
“I really wanted to win this game because it could matter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But we didn’t, so now we got to move forward. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.”
Panic hasn’t — and presumably won’t — set into the Dodgers’ clubhouse. The two-time defending champions, however, are well aware they have lost 11 of their past 16 games.
“This has been cumulative,” Roberts said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been consistent offensively. … I just don’t see the consistent plan of attack, one through nine. The results are hard, hitting’s hard, but I do think that fighting and winning pitches, spoiling pitches — that’s care, hunger. And that’s a reason why [when] you look at four and a half months of the season, the Brewers have outscored us. … A team that’s young and hungry. It’s certainly not talent.
“We just haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense and not converting an out … it’s just not winning baseball. Our pedigree [and] what we typically do is control the zone, grind it, grind at-bats [and] create stress. We’re not doing that.”
Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers beats a tag attempt by Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt to score in the seventh inning Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Brewers struck first with two outs in the second inning after Luis Lara grounded into a bases-loaded fielder’s choice; Tommy Edman dropped an awkward flip to second base from Mookie Betts, resulting in an error and a 1-0 Milwaukee lead.
Max Muncy got to Henderson in the fourth by hitting a tying home run 370 feet to right field. In the next inning, Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers hit a go-ahead single to right off Skubal, scoring Jackson Chourio from second after his double.
“I just got to be better in those moments,” Skubal said. “You know, the slider down and in to Lara’s got to be probably a little bit more down and in, and the changeup to Bauers has got to be a more quality pitch. … So as much as it’s in the kind of grind of at-bats, they also put some swings on some balls. But I need to execute some pitches and some two-strike counts a little better as well.”
The Brewers added two insurance runs in the seventh, as Bauers and Andrew Vaughn collected a pair of RBI knocks against left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. They got two more in the ninth after a second bases-loaded error by Edman came when he failed to field a choppy ground ball from David Hamilton, allowing Chourio and Lara to score.
“We have a lot of guys with reputations that can really pick the ball,” Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt said of the defensive woes. “I don’t think we’re really worried about [it]. All these things are going to help us in the long run.”
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts walks back to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers had a chance to crawl closer with one out in the eighth, with Teoscar Hernández on third and Hunter Feduccia on first. But Shohei Ohtani grounded into a double play against Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby.
Andy Pages hit a solo home run in the ninth, but it came too late to matter.
“It can’t happen all at once,” Roberts said of a potential turnaround. “It just kind of starts building, collectively. And once we do that, then you get the big hit, things like that. But it’s a process of: each pitch, pass the baton, valuing every single pitch. And mentally, it’s not easy, but we can do it. We’ve done it many times over before.”
The results just haven’t been there for the Dodgers.
As they head to Colorado for a three-game series against the last-place Rockies, the Dodgers aren’t expecting any breaks.
“Honestly, I think every team’s hungry because they’re chasing us,” Roberts said. “They’re trying to make a name for themselves or trying to play spoiler, whatever it is. But every team we play is going to bring their best. The guys we are going to play the next three games, they’re gonna bring their best, I promise you that.”
If there is a silver lining, it’s that Skubal seems to be acclimating just fine in L.A. — even if the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner hasn’t had his best game since joining the Dodgers.
“I just got to be more consistent,” Skubal said of his first three starts with the Dodgers. “Continue to get quality contact on the ground, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck … But the stuff on my hand is as good as it’s ever been. And honestly, my execution today was pretty good too.
“There’s always room for improvement … but [in] the same breath, you can’t beat yourself up too much. I’m not going to be perfect out there. But yeah, I need to be more efficient. That’s the standard that I hold myself to: pitching deeper into ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”
Injury updates
The Dodgers placed left-handed starter Justin Wrobleski on the 15-day injured list with left forearm inflammation and recalled right-handed reliever Kyle Hurt from triple-A Oklahoma City. Wrobleski, who has pitched a career-high 126⅓ innings this season, surrendered four runs and four hits in a loss against the Brewers on Saturday.
“We just felt collectively that Justin was the right person [to] back off the fatigue of the arm,” Roberts said. “It’s not something that he’s ever going to make an excuse for. But I do think that it’s smart for us, as an organization, to take that load off a little bit from him.”
Wrobleski has struggled recently, giving up 11 home runs over his past four starts.
Stewart, who was placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder discomfort on July 31, said he’ll join the Dodgers on their upcoming road trip to Colorado and is hopeful he’ll be activated soon.
