When big names struggle, Dodgers do too
Glasnow suffers first loss in L.A., Ohtani can’t help spark rally against Nationals.
The Dodgers had their best pitcher on the mound in Tyler Glasnow, the 6-foot-8 right-hander who was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in December and signed to a five-year, $136.5million extension to be the team’s ace.
They had their most dangerous hitter at the plate for the game’s most critical moment in Shohei Ohtani, the two-time American League most valuable player who was signed to a 10-year, $700million deal in December to power what was expected to be one of baseball’s most lethal lineups.
Neither delivered in a 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals in front of 42,677 at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, the team’s fourth loss in five games.
Glasnow, who entered with a 3-0 record and 2.25 ERA, gave up six earned runs and eight hits, including two homers, in five innings, striking out five and walking two, suffering his first loss as a Dodger on a night he was battling flu-like symptoms.
“He’s not going to say it, but he was under the weather,” manager Dave
Roberts said. “As far as the performance, it just wasn’t there. The fastball command wasn’t there. The breaking ball — curveball, specifically — he didn’t have the feel for it. And the slider was sort of just rolling. It just didn’t have the teeth to it.”
Ohtani had a chance to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh when, with the Dodgers trailing 6-3, he stepped to the plate against Nationals right-hander Hunter Harvey with two on after James Outman’s leadoff single to left field and Mookie Betts’ two-out single.
Ohtani hit the ball on the nose, sending a 98-mph line drive to center field but well within the reach of Jacob Young, who ran toward the gap in left-center for an inning-ending catch.
“I mean, it’s not only me,” right fielder Teoscar Hernández said when asked if there was a feeling in the dugout that something special was about to happen. “Everybody is hoping he’d get into one in that situation where we’re losing by three runs so we can tie the game. He made good contact, but unfortunately, it was right at the center fielder.”
After Monday, the lefthanded-hitting Ohtani was batting .338 with a 1.033 onbase-plus-slugging percentage, four homers, 10 doubles and 10 RBIs but had only one hit in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position (.063).
Glasnow overpowered
the Minnesota Twins with his fastball in his previous start on April 9, a seven-inning, no-run, three-hit, 14strikeout effort in which he induced 12 swinging strikes and 12 called strikes among his 45 four-seamers.
His 96.2-mph average velocity Monday night was virtually identical to his 96.3mph season average, but he was hardly dominant with the pitch, inducing three swinging strikes and 12 called strikes among his 47 fastballs.
“It was just not a lot of execution,” Glasnow said. “I don’t think any of the pitches were really working. I wasn’t hitting my spots and was falling behind early. If I’m kind of throwing [just] one pitch for a strike, I think you’re able to sit on something and stay on the heater, and I think it’s just easier to
sell out for one pitch.”
Washington leadoff man CJ Abrams gave a hint of the kind of night it would be for Glasnow when he slammed the first pitch of the game, a 95.5-mph fastball, to rightcenter for a double. Abrams took third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
The Dodgers scored single runs in the first (singles by Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, Will Smith sacrifice fly) and second (Max Muncy double, Chris Taylor sacrifice fly) innings off Nationals left-hander Mitchell Parker, who was making his major league debut, to take a 2-1 lead.
But Abrams led off the third with a towering home run to right-center, his fourth of the season, and Jesse Winker doubled to left and scored on Joey Gallo’s RBI double to right for a 3-2
Washington lead.
Glasnow gave up a oneout single to Winker and a two-out walk to Gallo in the fifth. He was one pitch away from escaping the jam when he left a full-count slider up and over the plate to Luis Garcia Jr., who drove a three-run home run — his first of the season — to left field for a 6-2 Nationals lead.
“It was just a bad slider, I left it up,” Glasnow said of the home run pitch. “I think just being late and not being able to execute tonight, it was just a super hittable pitch.”
Ohtani reached on catcher’s inference to lead off the sixth, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Smith’s groundout to trim Washington’s lead to 6-3. Hernández doubled with two outs in the eighth and scored on Muncy’s RBI single to right to make it 6-4.
Outf ielder Pages called up, playing
All spring, the Dodgers marveled at how far ahead of schedule outfield prospect Andy Pages was in his recovery from shoulder surgery last season.
Just three weeks into the regular season, Pages’ major league debut is arriving sooner than expected.
Pages was called up and starting in center field in the No. 7 spot in the batting order Tuesday night in the second game of their series against the Nationals.
Pages was off to a blistering start to the year at triple-A Oklahoma City in which the 23-year-old Cuba native batted .371 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in 15 games.
While Pages was on track to make his debut this year, his call-up comes after only 16 total games in triple A the last two seasons — and only 10 months after he underwent season-ending surgery for a torn labrum last June.
After injuring his shoulder in his triple-A debut last year, Pages dominated the level through two weeks this season. In 62 at-bats, he had 23 hits (nine of them for extra bases), eight walks and only 13 strikeouts.
Pages’ arrival comes as the Dodgers have looked to bolster the bottom of their lineup.
Entering Tuesday, the team’s .187 batting average from its Nos. 6 through 9 hitters ranked fourth-worst in the majors.
Depth in the outfield has become a recent concern too, with Jason Heyward on the injured list for a back injury and James Outman, Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández all struggling at the plate.
Between that and Pages’ own impressive play this month, the pathway toward an early call-up was suddenly paved.