Things looked promising in the first inning, loading the bases on two hits and a hit batter with one out.
Will Smith smashed a drive to the right field wall near the bullpen, and just like Max Muncy on Sunday was robbed by a fantastic catch. This time, Lee did the honors, which prevented multiple runs from scoring but at least Shohei Ohtani scored on the sacrifice fly.
“We do need to get better. We are not performing up to expectations,” manager Dave Roberts said of the offense before the game. “The work’s been consistent, the expectation for it to turn is important, too.
It was only one run, but it was at least *something*, including just the second time the Dodgers scored in the first inning in their last 13 games. And it marked the first time Los Angeles scored first in their last seven home games.
But they didn’t much else against Giants starter Adrian Houser, who entered Tuesday 121st in ERA (6.19) and 118th in xERA (5.53) among 132 major league pitchers with at least 30 innings. Opponents against Houser this season were hitting .298/.348/.543 entering Tuesday, but the Dodgers managed only two runs and three hits off him in 5 2/3 innings.
One positive is two of those three hits were by Ohtani, including a home run hit to left center field, his first long ball since April 26, with 52 plate appearances in between.
Before Tuesday’s game, Roberts said he planned to not start Ohtani at designated hitter in Thursday’s series finale, and might also give Ohtani Wednesday night off from hitting as well in a game he’s pitching, after hitting .200/.321/.300 with a 76 wRC+ over his previous 23 games.
“Fatigue is bleeding into the mechanics,” Roberts said. “Most players get that toward the end of the summer. Now I’m learning with Shohei, it’s probably showing itself a little earlier, as far as the tax on pitching and all that comes with it, to the hitting, too.”
Baseball hinges on the battle between batter and pitcher, and Ohtani as a two-way player is involved in more of those interactions than any other player in the sport. He’s faced 145 batters as a pitcher this season and has now batted 185 times. That’s 330 total plate appearances for Ohtani, 36.3 percent more than the next-most, Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara at 242 batters faced.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out again in the eighth inning, but Muncy struck out looking against southpaw Sam Hentges, followed by Pages flying out to left against right-hander Caleb Kilian. No runs cashed in.
The Dodgers offense has been held to three or fewer runs 10 times in their last 13 games, including each of their last five. Most of that stretch has come with pretty good pitching, but that hasn’t been the case during this current four-game losing streak, giving up seven, seven, nine, and six runs.
“I think urgency is always a good thing, I really do. People run from urgency because it’s hard to sustain it. That kind of mindset, I think it’s healthy and I think we can sustain it,” Roberts said. “But then it’s every at-bat, every pitch, every situation, they’ve got to be important.”
**Home runs**: Shohei Ohtani (7); Erik Haase 2 (2), Harrison Bader (2)
**WP — Adrian Houser (1-4)**: 5 2/3 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
**LP — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-3)**: 6 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs, 8 strikeouts
**Sv — Caleb Kilian (2)**: 1 1/3 IP, 1 strikeout