Dodgers offense goes cold, drop second in a row

For the first time all season, the Dodgers dropped back-to-back games, falling to the Cardinals 4-0 on Tuesday night. Dating back to Monday’s game, the Dodgers have scored a total of one run over their last 17 innings.

The story of the night was LA’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position. For the game, the Dodgers were 2-for-11, and left 13 runners on base.

It looked as if LA was going to get on the board early on. Consecutive singles from Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger put runners at the corners with one out. A.J. Pollock and Max Muncy both struck out swinging, wasting their opportunity for runs.

The Cardinals used a pair of doubles from Paul DeJong and Yadiel Molina to give them a one-run edge after the first.

Just two innings later in the third, the Dodgers had yet another opportunity to try and tack on some runs. Back-to-back walks from Joc Pederson and Turner brought up LA’s hottest hitter, Bellinger. On a 2-1 pitch, Bellinger grounded to DeJong, who turned an un-assisted double play to end the inning.

Ross Stripling found himself in a jam in the bottom half of the third. After issuing two walks, runners were on first and second with two outs. Molina, who doubled in his first at bat, doubled yet again, this time bringing in two runs to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead.

An inning later, the Dodgers had yet another opportunity. Back-to-back singles put two on with one out. Chris Taylor was unable to get a hit, though he advanced the runners to second and third with a groundout. The Cardinals intentionally walked Austin Barnes, and Stripling came up with the bases loaded. He struck out, killing the chance at yet another rally.

A two-out rally loaded the bases in the fifth for Enrique Hernandez. He struck out swinging, stranding three runners on base to end the inning.

Hernandez and Taylor reached base to start the eighth, putting two on with no outs. Unfortunately, the Dodgers couldn’t string together anything off of Andrew Miller, stranding two more on base to end the inning.

Up next

The Dodgers will look to avoid a third straight loss on Wednesday, as Kenta Maeda (2-0, 3.09 ERA) will face Jack Flaherty (0-0, 3.86 ERA). First pitch is at 4:45 PT on SportsNet LA.