Dave Roberts downplayed the simple narrative on Sunday afternoon.
“No,” he stated when requested if his Dodgers had the New York Yankees’ proverbial quantity, having adopted up their defeat of the Bronx Bombers in final yr’s World Collection with two spectacular wins to begin this weekend’s rematch at Dodger Stadium.
“I think we’ve had their number the last two nights,” Roberts stated, “but today’s a different day.”
Was it ever.
Twenty-four hours after a complete annihilation of the Yankees in an 18-2 rout on Saturday, the Dodgers suffered the form of setback that has so typically plagued them this season, squandering the possibility to construct momentum in a 7-3 loss that prevented a sequence sweep.
For as full a efficiency because the Dodgers (36-23) put collectively Saturday, they seemed equally out of kinds in a “Sunday Night Baseball” finale, getting a uncommon unhealthy begin from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, errors on protection and basepaths that value them early runs, and nearly nothing from a lineup that seemed largely discombobulated towards funky left-hander (and former Dodger) Ryan Yarbrough.
They could have come out of the weekend with a marquee sequence win, persevering with to nurse a slim lead within the Nationwide League West standings.
However, they invited extra scrutiny over their inconsistent begin to the season with a finale flop.
Yamamoto had been the one fixed within the Dodgers’ injury-plagued rotation. His 1.97 earned-run common was second within the NL. His 64 innings not solely led the group, however have been virtually twice as many as anybody else apart from Dustin Could.
Yamamoto had a formidable observe report towards the Yankees (36-22), too, shutting them out over seven innings in New York final June earlier than delivering 6 ⅓ innings of one-run ball in Sport 2 of the World Collection.
On Sunday, nevertheless, he couldn’t persistently discover the strike zone or execute his trademark splitter. And after scoring simply two runs of their earlier 15 innings on this sequence, the Yankees lastly got here to life on the plate.
Within the first, Trent Grisham singled and Ben Rice walked earlier than Jasson Domínguez dumped a line drive into left, driving in a run when Andy Pages airmailed his throw to dwelling plate.
Within the third, a leadoff stroll to Choose was adopted by a two-run homer to Rice — Yamamoto lacking badly with two splitters within the first at-bat earlier than leaving one hanging within the subsequent.
Later within the inning, the Yankees scored once more after Yamamoto gave up two singles and spiked a splitter for a run-scoring wild pitch.
And with two outs within the fourth, Roberts pulled Yamamoto, his pitch rely having ballooned to 96 on a day he gave up a season-high in hits (seven) and walked three others. It was the primary time this yr that Yamamoto, whose ERA rose to 2.39, had failed to finish the fifth.
The Dodgers faltered in different methods, as nicely.
There can be no counterpunch from Dodgers’ offense, which was lacking Mookie Betts for a third-straight recreation due to a toe fracture (Betts stated earlier than the sport his toe was beginning to really feel higher, and went by means of pregame actions in hopes of avoiding a stint on the injured record).
As a substitute, Yarbrough cruised towards the group that dealt him away finally yr’s commerce deadline.
Though he by no means hit 90 mph together with his fastball, he induced a string of sentimental contact whereas hanging out 5 in a six-inning begin. Yarbrough was particularly efficient towards the highest of the Dodgers’ order, which went a mixed 0 for 16.
The Dodgers did present some life after Yarbrough’s exit, with Pages and Max Muncy every taking reliever Jonathan Loáisiga deep throughout the house of three at-bats.
However by then, it was a lot too little, a lot too late — ensuing within the Dodgers’ second straight sequence wherein they failed to finish a sweep, and one more momentum-halting loss in a season affected by a couple of too a lot of them.
