Not much good to say about the NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-3 loss to the NL Central fourth-place St. Louis Cardinals in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 44,621 on Wednesday afternoon, but it does bring up one burning question: Although Cardinals right-hander Riley O’Brien‘s fifth pitch to 23-year-old Dodgers rookie third baseman Alex Freeland (which he fouled off) probably would have been called a strike anyway by home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott, you have to wonder why Freeland even swung at it on a 3-1 count with the best hitter in baseball – 31-year-old international superstar Shohei Ohtani – in the on deck circle.
(SportsNet LA)
Keep in mind that Ohtani, the Dodgers starting pitcher on Wednesday, had already hit a two-run home run halfway up the Left Field Pavilion in the bottom of the third inning (his 39th of the season and 3,000th of his career) to give his team a 2-1 lead, but again, why was Freeland even swinging 3-1?
Another burning question on Wednesday: Why was Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia brought in to pitch the top of the eighth inning when it’s clear to everyone (except Dodgers manager Dave Roberts) that Vesia does not have the stuff to be a legitimate closer?
“No, you know what? I honestly thought that the stuff was good,” Roberts answered, when asked about Vesia’s recent struggles. “But I think in that particular at-bat, you gotta give (Cardinals shortstop (Masyn) Winn a lot of credit. There was top zone foul balls, there was bottom zone, there was sliders, change-ups, foul balls, getting into a count, then he’d hit a change-up, you know, hard, and through the six hole, so, he… he handled everything Alex threw at him and, um, you know, won that battle.”
Vesia’s stuff included allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits, with a walk and a strikeout on his 30 pitches, of which 21 were strikes.
That being said, Vesia (and Ohtani) received little help from the Dodgers defense on Wednesday. A horrific throwing error by Freeland with two outs in the top of the eighth with runners at the corners (both of whom scored) turned a 3-2 Dodgers lead into a (then) 4-3 deficit.
And then there’s 33-year-old Dodgers right-handed reliever Brock Stewart, who gave up a ninth-inning leadoff single to Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan and then hit designated hitter Iván Herrera with 96.6-mph sinker to put runners on first and second. Stewart then gave up a one-out double to Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbaar, scoring Donovan to make it 5-3.
Although Dodgers pinch-hitter Max Muncy drew a five-pitch walk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and took second on defensive indifference, Freeland grounded out to second to end the inning and the game.
“”We just have’t synched up,” Roberts (accurately) told reporters postgame.
Unfortunately for Roberts’ team, the NL West second-place San Diego Padres won on Wednesday to pull to within two games of the division leaders:
On to the next one.
Play Ball!
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