Roster fill-ins flub plays, cost L.A. a win over Miami
LOS ANGELES » You won’t recognize these names from the 2020 World Series highlight video.
With three regulars, half a bullpen and their fifth starter on the Injured List, though, the Dodgers are forging ahead with a shifting cast of irregulars. An error by one (Sheldon Neuse) led to another (Edwin Uceta) allowing a threerun home run as the Miami Marlins snapped the Dodgers’ winning streak at four games with a 3-2 defeat Sunday afternoon.
The lineup was depleted further when Chris Taylor was scratched right before the game after experiencing discomfort in his right wrist while taking swings in the batting cage.
“For Chris to say he can’t play minutes before the game is obviously a little concerning,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, adding that Taylor will receive treatment and be re-evaluated Monday.
The Dodgers can at least look forward to reinforcements today. Albert Pujols, Yoshi Tsutsugo and David Price are all expected to be added to the roster.
But half of Sunday’s starting eight didn’t appear in the World Series played just seven months ago. Neither did five of the six pitchers used Sunday.
“There’s certain things that you can’t control and those are injuries,” Roberts said. “But you have to keep moving forward and expect guys that are filling in to be productive. We had a chance to win the game certainly.
“But it’s kind of what you have right now and you still got to make do and not make excuses.”
A schedule that featured three off days in an eightday stretch has allowed the Dodgers to avoid filling Dustin May’s spot in the rotation as they await Tony Gonsolin’s return from a shoulder injury. Sunday’s fill-in starter was Johnny Wholestaff — aka a bullpen game. It actually went pretty well. The group effort produced eight scoreless innings.
In the fifth inning, though, Neuse -- starting at second base after Chris Taylor was a late scratch with right wrist soreness -booted a ground ball up the middle by Marlins starter Pablo Lopez.
After giving up a single to Jazz Chisholm Jr., Uceta struck out Garrett Cooper and got Corey Dickerson to bounce out. But he grooved a 93-mph sinker (that very much didn’t sink) to Adam Duvall with an 0-and-1 count. Duvall crushed it, sending a moon shot down the left field line, just inside the foul pole.
It was Duvall’s second three-run home run of the weekend series. He also hit one off Clayton Kershaw on Friday, showing no discrimination toward either end of the Dodgers’ pitching staff.
Those three unearned runs turned around an early Dodgers lead.
Back-to-back doubles by Neuse and Austin Barnes produced one run in the second inning and Mookie Betts’ two-out RBI single made it a 2-0 Dodgers lead.
But the Dodgers didn’t have another hit until the fifth inning.
That was a leadoff double by Betts. He didn’t go anywhere as Max Muncy and Justin Turner popped out then tried to score the tying run on Matt Beaty’s single to shallow right field.
“I want to say Dino (Ebel, third-base coach) was waving me home. I think that’s the right play right there,” Betts said. “You’ve got to wave me home. I mean, it’s two outs and just kind of hope for the best at that point especially since we weren’t scratching across any runs.
“So — gotta try.”
Duvall played it on a hop and made a strong throw home that arrived so far ahead of Betts that Marlins catcher Chad Wallach spun around, looking for him. Betts tried leapfrogging over Wallach but the catcher brushed him on the leg with his glove on Betts’ way up and over.
“I mean, the ball beat me by so much I wasn’t just going to slide into him for no reason,” Betts said. “I pretty much had no chance so I just jumped. I don’t think I even thought about it. I think it just kind of happened.”
The Dodgers had another chance to tie the game in the eighth inning against Marlins setup man Dylan Floro (who does appear in that World Series video). Two-out singles by Beaty and Gavin Lux put runners at the corners but Floro struck out Luke Raley.
Barnes’ one-out infield single the tying run on base again in the ninth against another former Dodgers reliever, Yimi Garcia. But Will Smith struck out and Betts grounded out to end the game.