Hangover 4.
Have they made that film but? No? Properly, they simply did, at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday evening, full with complications, nausea and the shaky feeling of impending doom.
Lower than a day after an exhausting six-and-a-half hour, 18-inning victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Dodgers curled up within the nook with a chilly washcloth whereas the Jays smothered them with it.
After 4 video games of this World Collection, the Dodgers have the sweats whereas the Jays are contemporary, feisty and really a lot alive, having pulled right into a two-game-apiece tie after a 6-2 victory in a slog of a Sport 4.
Definitely, each groups entered the evening exhausted after the Dodgers’ 6-5 victory within the longest recreation in World Collection historical past Monday evening.
However whereas the Blue Jays actually bounced again, the Dodgers went psssssst.
“This team is talented, they’re resilient — talking about the Blue Jays,” stated Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “And they came back fighting.”
Whereas the Blue Jays obtained sturdy beginning pitching from Shane Bieber and highly effective aid from an exhausted bullpen, the Dodgers obtained an underwhelming begin from weary Shohei Ohtani and one more bullpen meltdown.
The Blue Jay offense was aggressive, battling, 9 of their 11 hits had been singles they usually did all this with out veteran star George Springer.
“You see these guys grinding and using the whole field,” stated Roberts.
The Dodgers offense, in the meantime, might barely maintain the bat on their shoulders, scoring solely two runs regardless of having runners on base in seven of 9 innings, they usually’ve now scored three runs within the final 20 innings.
“We could do at least the bare minimum to be able to put up some runs,” stated Ohtani via an interpreter in what gave the impression of a uncommon critique of his teammates.
Earlier than the sport, Jays supervisor John Schneider accurately predicted his staff was removed from completed, saying, “It’s the World Series. Everyone is feeling good. They like these situations. We have responded well in these situations. In terms of second wind, no, man. It’s just wake up, get ready to do it again.”
It was a strong proclamation, and the Dodgers?
“We just didn’t have an answer,” stated Roberts.
Their lack of response was epitomized by the sorriest ninth-inning rally in latest reminiscence, Teoscar Hernández leads off with a stroll and Max Muncy doubles and no one else can get the ball out of the infield till there was two outs — and Alex Name flied out to left to finish the sport.
Whereas the sequence may be very a lot up for grabs, Tuesday’s loss makes one factor very sickly sure. If the Dodgers do develop into baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years, they must have fun that title in Toronto. After Wednesday’s Sport 5 right here, that’s the place the sequence travels for Sport 6 and seven, if essential.
For the 62nd consecutive season, the Dodgers won’t be able to share that championship celebration in entrance of their house followers.
That stinks. However first issues first. Beginning with not too long ago shaky Blake Snell on Wednesday, and persevering with with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow in Toronto, the Dodgers must work out how one can get a minimum of seven innings out of the starters and keep the hell away from the damned terrible bullpen.
It was the bullpen that unsurprisingly gave this recreation away after Ohtani left within the seventh inning trailing solely 2-1 however with runners on second and third.
Enter Anthony Banda, who yielded an RBI single to Andres Giménez and an RBI grounder to Ty France. An intentional stroll to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. later, Blake Treinen took the mound and gave up an RBI single to Bo Bichette and one other RBI single to Addison Barger.
The Dodgers trudged out of that inning trailing 6-1 and the sport was primarily over.
“Not great,” stated Muncy, who has three hits in 17 at-bats within the sequence. “We’re missing on the big opportunities, myself included. I’m one of the big culprits of that. I’ve had some opportunities and I haven’t cashed in. We gotta get the big hit.”
And to assume, the day began so brightly.
Kiké Hernández leaned into the stands on the second pitch to catch a foul ball. Ohtani was walked within the first inning to mark his tenth consecutive time reaching base. The video board confirmed Prince Henry and Meghan, each carrying Dodger caps, and the group booed, and it was all such enjoyable.
The Dodgers even struck first, within the second, when Muncy walked, Tommy Edman singled to proper and Hernández scored Muncy with a protracted fly ball to proper.
The lead, nonetheless, didn’t final lengthy, the Jays rapidly rebounding within the third with a leadoff single by Nathan Lukes adopted by a two-run house run by — who else? — Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Dodgers appeared to lastly unnerve the Jays within the sixth when singles by Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández with one out shoved starter Shane Bieber to the dugout. However going through lefty reliever Mason Fluharty, the Dodgers failed spectacularly, with Muncy rapidly flying out to middle and Edman placing out.
After that Guerrero house run, Ohtani then proceeded to retire 11 of the following 12 hitters earlier than giving up the only to Daulton Varsho and the double to Ernie Clement that led to his exit within the seventh.
Ohtani stated he wasn’t drained from reaching base 9 instances the earlier evening. However his 0-for-3 evening on the plate mixed along with his gradual wither in 80-degree warmth would counsel in any other case.
“You know, I don’t know,” stated Roberts. “But, yeah, he gave us a good effort. He really did.”
Roberts finally had no alternative however to go to his maligned bullpen. However as a result of that they had all labored the evening earlier than, they had been particularly toothless.
“Obviously, last night was taxing on both clubs’ pens, but it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck situation,” Roberts stated.
If it wasn’t earlier than Tuesday, it’s now.
