BALTIMORE — Remember when the Dodgers were accused of having collected so much talent they were ruining baseball? That luxury vehicle is dropping parts like a high-mileage Ford Taurus.
With All-Star catcher Will Smith sidelined by a bone bruise in his right hand, Dalton Rushing was handed the chance at regular playing time the top prospect no doubt craved. That might have ended in the sixth inning Friday night when Rushing fouled a ball off his right shin, dropped to the ground in obvious pain and had to be helped from the field.
The most talented team ever assembled – allegedly – finished the game with journeyman Ben Rortvedt (a career .186 hitter in scattered major-league at-bats) as the only healthy catcher on the roster – and nothing clearly better behind him at Triple-A. Does anyone have Austin Barnes’ phone number?
The day started with a more predictable injury – Tyler Glasnow was scratched with back stiffness. That set Shohei Ohtani up for a heroic ‘flu game.’ He came through with 3⅔ scoreless innings on the mound, but the Dodgers needed a hero to emerge on offense. He never did. Instead, rookie catcher Samuel Basallo hit a walk-off home run against Tanner Scott with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 2-1 victory.
The Dodgers have now lost four consecutive games to last-place teams on this trip (the Pittsburgh Pirates and Orioles) and 13 of their past 17 games against teams with losing records.
Despite fighting a chest cold all week and not learning he would start Friday until the afternoon, Ohtani had seven pitches from 99.8 mph to 100.6 mph in the first three innings. When he got in trouble in the fourth, he really stepped on the gas.
Orioles DH Ryan Mountcastle led off with a double then moved to third base with no outs on a wild pitch. Ohtani struck out Colton Cowser and Emmanuel Rivera, throwing six pitches over 100 mph, topping out at 101.6 mph to Rivera.
That was it for Ohtani. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him after 70 pitches in 3⅔ innings and let Anthony Banda pick up from there.
The Orioles finally broke the scoreless tie and didn’t need a hit to do it. Two walks put runners at first and second with two outs in the fifth. Jackson Holliday took off from second base on the front end of a double steal – then kept going when Ben Casparius’ pitch was in the dirt and got away from Rushing.
It was the fifth wild pitch in the past two games with Rushing struggling to block pitches.
But it only took one pitch for the Dodgers to tie the score. Freddie Freeman led off the top of the sixth with a home run.
That was a brief break from the offensive malaise that continues to infect the Dodgers’ lineup. They went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners on base. The totals for this winless trip are 4 for 27 with RISP and 30 LOB. They have scored four runs in their past 27 innings.
The Dodgers’ bullpen followed Ohtani with 4⅓ scoreless innings. But Basallo turned a 1-and-2 fastball over the heart of the plate from Scott into a 433-foot celebration. It was the 10th homer Scott has allowed this season.
More to come on this story.