For the third straight night, the Dodgers put together a sloppy game on defense. Unlike Thursday night, it cost them in the end.
Looking pretty tired and unable to put together any rallies, the Dodgers made two errors that led to three unearned runs. That was enough for the Pirates, as they took the win, 3-1.
The Rockies shook off a great start from Chris Carpenter to beat the Cardinals in the ninth, 2-1. The lead for the Dodgers in the NL West is now at five games.
The Dodgers are currently in the middle of a seven-game East Coast swing, and they looked like their bodies are just worn down. They just came off of two tough games against the Nationals, and then couldn't figure the Pirates' pitching. I'm glad they don't play until Saturday night, because a day game would not have given them much rest.
The unfortunate part about this game was that the defense just handed over the runs. In the bottom of the first, Andre McCutchen led off with an infield single. Old friend Andy LaRoche then hit a grounder to Blake DeWitt, who was giving Casey Blake another night off with a sore hamstring. DeWitt promptly threw it into left field for two on.
With McCutchen on third, Garrett Jones lifted a sac-fly RBI to make it 1-0. That would only be the beginning of defensive miscues leading to runs.
DeWitt did make somewhat make up for his blunder by doubling with two outs in the second. Orlando Hudson got the start, and he needed to find his groove again at the plate. He started off positively, as his RBI double to right made it 1-1.
The tie was short lived, as the Pirates took over for good in the third. LaRoche and Jones singled with one out. Ryan Doumit hit an easy grounder to James Loney, who surprisingly booted it to load the bases. Garland got Lastings Milledge swinging, but Brandon Moss just dropped one in front of Manny Ramirez to score two and go up 3-1.
That would be all she wrote on this night, as the Dodgers never could get that one big hit to get back into this one. They were pretty much their own biggest enemy in the field and at the plate.
Matt Kemp singled to start the fourth, then got picked off of first. Their only other major threat was in the seventh when Manny was up with one on and one out... then grounded into a double play. Ugh.
Garland picked up his first loss with the Dodgers, though he's not at all to blame. He went six innings for six hits, three runs (none earned), one walk, and six strikeouts. He still has a 1.91 ERA with the Dodgers in five starts, so he's obviously been a huge lift.
I'll give the Dodgers a bit of a mulligan only because they didn't get much rest coming into this one. Even if the Pirates are pathetic again, they have some young players that have potential to turn things around. For one night anyway, they actually put together some good pitching as well.
Now the Dodgers need to shake off the last few days and get back to playing playoff baseball. Their magic number for making the playoffs is still one, which can happen if they win or the Braves lose. To win the division over the Rockies, it's still at four.
The Dodgers have the guy they want on the mound to get a win tonight in Randy Wolf. Wolf sure looks like he'll be the Game 1 pitcher in the playoffs, so you hope they can wrap up the division early enough so they won't have to play important games late next week.
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