PITTSBURGH — Does anyone want to win the National League West?
Because this week, it sure doesn’t look like it.
What was advertised as a supposed late-season sprint between the first-place Dodgers and second-place San Diego Padres has instead looked more like an army crawl through the mud. Neither team has been able to win games, even against last-place opponents. Neither has capitalized on the other’s mistakes, engaged in what has become a race to the bottom to see who can struggle more.
For the Dodgers, this should have been the moment to pull away in the division. Already up two games at the start of this week, they watched from afar as the injury-ravaged Padres were stunningly swept by the Baltimore Orioles in San Diego, running the Padres’ recent losing streak to four games.
However, the Dodgers have responded with their own confounding spat of performances, dropping a second straight game to the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 on Wednesday night at PNC Park to suffer their fourth defeat in the last five games.
This week’s series at PNC Park — the fourth straight the Dodgers have dropped here over the last four years — has epitomized the team’s maddening current form.
One night, they explode at the plate for seven runs … only for their pitching staff to give up nine.
The next, they piece together a decent pitching effort (even after Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled start because of an illness) … only for the offense to squander every opportunity they had to make a dent (and lose catcher Will Smith to a hand contusion along the way).
Wednesday’s frustrations started early.
Bryan Reynolds worked a 12-pitch at-bat off spot starter Emmet Sheehan in the bottom of the first, before finally launching a home run to right field. The Dodgers had the bases loaded with no outs in the next half-inning, but came up empty. Andy Pages struck out swinging at ball four. Alex Freeland struck out in another full count looking at strike three. Kiké Hernández flied out to right with Ohtani (who did play as DH, and will make his next pitching start this weekend in Baltimore) standing on deck.
Over the next two frames, the same story would repeat itself.
In the bottom of the second, Andrew McCutchen ambushed Sheehan for another solo blast to left. In the next half-inning, the Dodgers stranded the bases loaded again, with Alex Call (who replaced Michael Conforto in left field in the lineup) hitting a dribbler up the first-base line to retire the side.
There would be more missed chances to come for the Dodgers.
Ohtani doubled to lead off the fifth. Mookie Betts drew a walk behind him. Dalton Rushing, who replaced Smith after he took a foul ball off his hand in the second inning, lined out to move a runner. But then Freddie Freeman rolled into an inning-ending double-play.
Call hit a single with one out in the sixth, and Pages grinded through a 12-pitch at-bat of his own after that. However, Pages swung at what would have been ball four on four more occasions in that battle, before ultimately striking out again.
In the seventh, Ohtani had a one-out single and Rushing, after having his own injury scare on a pitch that hit his hand, managed to walk. Freeman, however, flied out to leave more baserunners stranded.
And over the final two innings, the Dodgers would fail to threaten again.
In case you lost count: The Dodgers put 11 runners on base, but failed to get any of them home. They took seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, and failed to produce a hit.
Amazingly, their division lead has still grown from two to 2½ games since Monday, by virtue of the Padres losing three games to the Dodgers’ two.
The way the division race has been going, however, maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising. What was billed as a battle of heavyweights might instead come down to who manages to stub their toe less.
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