Dodgers drop further behind in the NL West race.
SAN FRANCISCO >> The Dodgers went into this 10-game stretch hoping to re-assert their dominance in the NL West. Seven head-to-head games against the first-place San Francisco Giants presented that opportunity – and Friday’s trade deadline loomed as a means to remind the Giants and Padres where the division’s power really rested.
Welp.
Hours before they outlasted the San Diego Padres to land this year’s biggest trade deadline prize (Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, and shortstop Trea Turner as well), the Dodgers went down weakly in San Francisco, held to four hits by Johnny Cueto and a string of relievers in a 5-0 loss to the Giants on Thursday afternoon at Oracle Park.
During this stretch, the Dodgers lost five of the seven meetings with the Giants — three of four at home, two of three in San Francisco. Instead of wresting first place away from the Giants, the Dodgers are farther away now (three games) than they were when this stretch started (one game).
“Seven games, we just didn’t do enough things to win,” said Thursday’s losing pitcher, David Price. “They played really good baseball, got a lot of big hits, made the plays defensively, their starters and their bullpen guys threw the ball really well.
“They just played better baseball than we did.”
Price pointed to the number of close games during this stretch that “could have gone either way.” The Giants won three times in their last atbat, the Dodgers once.
“We have so much respect for those guys. Obviously, that’s a very good ballclub,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They’ve earned this right now, up to this point. And they played better the last seven games, clearly. All we can do is turn the page, get ready for Arizona and try to play good baseball. That’s the only focus right now that we have. We’ve still got a ways to go.”
Roberts acknowledged that, heading into this stretch of the schedule, the Dodgers saw a prime opportunity to make a move in the division.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “When you’re playing a team that you’re chasing, you have that opportunity to really impact it going head to head and we didn’t do that. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Those guys outplayed us.”
With the last hours before the trade deadline counting down, there was
GIANTS 5, DODGERS 0
Today: Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40p.m. SNLA
no doubt more action off screen than there was on the field at Oracle Park on Thursday afternoon.
Price has been an adequate replacement in the Dodgers’ depleted starting rotation. But he went out Thursday and made it clear how badly the Dodgers needed to land Scherzer before today’s 1 p.m. PT deadline if they want to hold their own in the threetime NL West race.
Price walked the bases loaded in the first inning then gave up a bouncing ball down the third-base line by Brandon Crawford that went for a two-run double. The Dodgers trailed the rest of the way.
“Walking three guys in that first inning, that puts myself in a tough spot, puts our team in a tough spot as well,” Price said. “Crawford did a good job of staying inside that fastball. He shot it down the third-base line. That was a big hit for them.
“Not being able to get that big pitch or that put-away pitch whenever I had two outs, runners in scoring position, that was tough as well. They did a good job of fighting pitches off and getting something they could handle. They made me pay today.”