Win streak snapped at 11 after Tony Gonsolin serves up 5 home runs

The Dodgers’ winning streak was snapped at 11 games on Friday night in a 11-3 loss to the Marlins at Dodger Stadium.

The starting pitching staff had been on a dominant streak, but Tony Gonsolin struggled mightily again. After a long winning streak, a loss was inevitable. The unfortunate timing was Gonsolin’s 3 ¹⁄₃ inning start on the eve of a split doubleheader.

Gonsolin was on repeat from his previous start and served up a leadoff solo home run to Jorge Soler to give the Marlins a quick 1-0 lead. The cat-loving right-hander pitched six solid innings after allowing a home run on his first pitch in his last start against the Rockies. The game story didn’t have a happy ending this time.

Gonsolin was clobbered by the Marlins and allowed five home runs and 10 runs in his worst start of the year, ballooning his ERA to 4.98 on the season.

Gonsolin continued to struggle in the early goings of the game. With two outs, he walked two batters after the homer. Gonsolin was able to retire Bryan De La Cruz for the third out to end the inning with minimal damage.

The Dodgers came out aggressively against Sandy Alcantara in the first inning with some hard contact. Mookie Betts crushed one of his biggest home runs of the season, a humongous leadoff solo shot to center field to tie the game.

The Marlins knocked around Gonsolin in the top of the third with three home runs and six runs. Soler looked locked in when he crushed his second solo home run of the game against Gonsolin. Gonsolin continued to labor, and the third homer of the game he allowed was a much more painful three-run long ball to Jake Burger. Gonsolin then went on to allow another home run, a two-run homer to Jacob Stallings to give the Fish a commanding 7-1 lead after a six-run onslaught.

Gonsolin’s downward spiral wasn’t complete. He allowed another three runs in the fourth including the fifth home run of the night for Miami. This time it was Jazz Chisholm Jr. who hit a three-run dinger. Gonsolin’s five home runs tied Don Sutton’s L.A. Dodgers record for most allowed in one game.

The Dodgers tried to fire off some dingers of their own with a Max Muncy solo homer in the home half of the fourth to make it 10-2. The Marlins tacked on their 11th run in the fifth on a Joey Wendle triple off Gus Varland.

The third solo homer against Alcantara by the Dodgers came off the bat of James Outman in the fifth, an opposite field shot.

The Dodgers had plenty of scoring opportunities. They loaded the bases in the eighth with no outs against Jorge Lopez but ended up not scoring. The offense went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position for just their second loss in the month of August.

Miguel Rojas pitched the top of the ninth to keep some of the arms fresh out of the bullpen for tomorrow. His 1-2-3 inning against his former team provided some levity to the situation.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Jorge Soler 2 (32), Mookie Betts (32), Jake Burger (27), Jacob Stallings (2), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (12), Max Muncy (29), James Outman (15)

WP — Sandy Alcantara (6-10): 6 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk

LP — Tony Gonsolin (8-5): 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8 hits, 10 runs, 2 strikeouts, 4 walks

Up next

Get ready for a double dose of Dodgers baseball on Saturday. The Dodgers and Marlins will complete their three-game series with a split doubleheader on Saturday (12:00 p.m. PST and 6:10 p.m. PST, SportsNet LA).