PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers had already missed two opportunities to grow their National League West division lead in Pittsburgh this week.
On Thursday, Cy Young front-runner Paul Skenes never gave them a chance.
In what was a confounding series sweep to the Pirates at PNC Park, the Dodgers’ 5-3 defeat on Thursday was easiest to explain.
In six scoreless innings, Skenes was his typically dominant self. Already the major leagues’ ERA leader entering the night, the second-year right-hander stuck out eight batters, gave up just two hits, escaped his only real threat by stranding a pair of two-out baserunners in the third inning, and simply overpowered the Dodgers with a seven-pitch repertoire headlined by his upper-90s-mph sidearm fastball.
His counterpart, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, was nowhere near top form. Although he largely limited much hard contact, the Pirates (64-77) were nonetheless able to string together nine hits against him in a five-inning, five-run start, manufacturing one run in the third after a leadoff single and two wild pitches, then four more in the fifth to put the game to bed.
And by the time the Dodgers finally showed some life offensively, when they scored three times in the ninth and had the tying run on base, it was much too little, much too late.
That the Dodgers (78-62) lost against Skenes, even with Snell going, was not much of a surprise.
Still, it only added to the frustration that had been brewing after their lackluster performances here in the series’ first two nights, sending the club to five defeats in the last six games.
Now, the Dodgers lead the NL West by only two games — missing a chance to create distance in the standings after the San Diego Padres suffered their own unexpected sweep against the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week.
They also trail the Philadelphia Phillies by three games for a top-two seed in the NL playoff picture, and an invaluable bye in the opening three-game wild card round of the postseason.
With 22 games remaining, the Dodgers would have to go perfect the rest of the way to reach the 100-win mark. At this point, even 90 victories feels far from a certainty.
After all, they haven’t been able to win the games they are supposed to, dropping to 4-12 in their last 16 against teams with losing records. And when facing the best current pitcher in the sport Thursday, they never seemed to stand much of a chance.
Skenes set the tone immediately on what had been a rainy evening in Pittsburgh. Shohei Ohtani struck out on a 99-mph heater in the game’s first at-bat. The next seven Dodgers who came to the plate all also recorded outs, flailing at Skenes’ mix of four-seamers, sweepers, curveballs and changeups to allow him to quickly find a comfortable rhythm.
It wasn’t until Dalton Rushing — who started in place of an injured Will Smith, as the team’s starting catcher awaited CT scan results on the bruised hand he sustained the night before — hit a third-inning fastball high off the center field wall for a double, becoming the Dodgers’ first baserunner. But, after an Ohtani walk, Mookie Betts grounded out to retire that threat.
From there, the only other damage Skenes allowed was a fifth-inning single from Miguel Rojas. The Dodgers’ ability to at least foul off two-strike pitches — they fought off 15 in all — at least got him out of the game after six innings. But by then, it was already too late. Because, unlike the Dodgers, the last-place Pirates (64-77) actually managed to build rallies against another of the game’s other top pitchers.
Snell’s outing was a grind from the start, with Rushing misfiring to first base for an error in the first inning and Betts reacting slowly to a ground ball at shortstop to extend the second.
Snell worked around those jams. In the third, however, he followed a leadoff single by Bryan Reynolds with a pair of wild pitches that got by Rushing. With Reynolds suddenly on third, and the Dodgers’ infield forced to play in, Tommy Pham slapped a single through the dirt for the night’s opening run.
Two innings later, the Pirates were on the hunt again.
In the bottom of the fifth, Snell gave up three consecutive singles that doubled the Pittsburgh lead. Then, after an intentional one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen, Nick Yorke went after a first-pitch curveball for a two-run double down the line.
McCutchen would later score from third on a grounder. Snell walked off the mound for the final time in frustration, having been charged with 10 earned runs in 17 ⅔ innings over his last three starts.
So it goes for the Dodgers right now. Their inconsistent lineup continues to scuffle. Their supposed strength of a rotation hasn’t been able to dominate games. And in a week they could have separated themselves in the standings, they instead remained mired in the mud, their second-half slump (they are 22-30 since July 4) showing no end in sight.
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