Offense goes quiet as Dodgers lose 3-2

LOS ANGELES — Overall, Monday night’s game just had a weird feel to it. The Dodgers couldn’t seem to find any sort of groove at the plate, there were shaky defensive moments, and it was simply too much to overcome as they fell to the Giants 3-2.

“It felt like the rhythm was weird today,” Austin Barnes said post-game. “There’s no excuses. We had chances to win that game. We should’ve won that game. We have to get another run across and win.”

The difference ended up being one run, a run that the Giants shouldn’t have scored in the beginning. With two on and no out in the sixth, Stephen Vogt grounded to first in what should have been a routine double play. Instead of two outs with a runner on third, a miscommunication between Julio Urias and Matt Beaty caused the throw to wind up in the dugout, bringing in Tyler Austin to score.

“I think there was lack of communication,” Dave Roberts said when asked about the incident. “I think the pitcher has to say something because the play is in front of him. They were both in a position to catch the baseball, but they were both in a position to let the baseball go. That’s something that can’t happen.”

It proved to be the difference maker, but that one error is not what cost the Dodgers the game. On the night, the Dodgers only strung together a total of five hits, with only three of them coming against the starter Matt Beede. Coming into the game, Beede had an ERA of over eight. He held the Dodgers to one run on three hits in six innings.

“Tonight was probably his best outing,” Roberts said. “You got to tip your cap. He went after us.”

The lone run he allowed came on a Max Muncy home run in the second inning. For Muncy, it was his fifth homer in the last nine games, and he’s now reached base in 27 consecutive games. “The quality of at bats every time he’s in there, he’s doing a lot of good things with his swing.” Roberts said.

Early on, it looked as if it would be a rough outing for Kenta Maeda. Struggling early on has been a theme for him this season. Through the first two innings, he owns an ERA of 6.11, but from there on out, it drops down to 2.64.

He struggled with command, walking two batters before recording an out in the second. “I thought that the first two innings he didn’t have any command of his secondary pitches,” Roberts said. “He was trying to be aggressive. Getting behind quite a bit. He usually has command of the slider and changeup, just didn’t have it tonight.”

After runners were on first and second, Brandon Crawford hit one to right field. It bounced off the wall, but Cody Bellinger couldn’t get the ball in quick enough to prevent both runners from scoring. It was an odd looking play, as it looked as if Bellinger couldn’t detect where the ball was, as he was slow getting to it and throwing it in. “It’s very uncharacteristic, it didn’t look right to me,” Roberts said. “I was very surprised to see Longoria score.”

After his shaky start, Maeda settled down. He retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced. There was a bit of a scare, as he took a comebacker off his wrist in the middle innings. He stayed in the game, but Roberts announced that his hand stiffened up. The x-rays were negative, and Roberts said he would be fine.

It’s the 33rd time in franchise history that the Dodgers have lost a game in which they allowed only three hits. The previous time was only two days ago against the Cubs. Roberts knows that his team is more than capable of taking care of business tomorrow. “Just one of those nights where we got to regroup.”