Some Dodgers reading for your Sunday morning begins with looking back at Saturday’s loss, which turned on a three-run fourth inning by the Mets, fueled partly by a pair of two-out walks by Tony Gonsolin, on eight pitches.

“Very upset with the walks,” Gonsolin told reporters at Citi Field, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. “Don’t walk those guys, potentially that inning looks a lot different. Just need to attack guys.”

That lack of command helped shorten Gonsolin’s outing to five innings instead of longer, the day after seven relievers combined to pitch the last 11 innings of a win. The Dodgers are in a vulnerable part of the schedule, with Sunday the third of 19 games in a 20-day stretch, with seven of the next eight series against teams who made the playoffs last year and/or are in playoff position this year.

Pitching efficiency will be key during this stretch, as Sonja Chen outlined at MLB.com:

“I just think things have just got to be more buttoned up on the pitching side, making sure the defense and the hitting’s got to continue what we’re doing,” manager Dave Roberts said before the series in New York began. “But this is going to be a good test for us. You can’t run away from the fact that we’re playing some good teams.”

Another reason the next three weeks or so will be tough is that only one pitcher on the injured list is likely to return during that time. Michael Kopech is five appearances into his rehab assignment, including a perfect frame on Friday night for Oklahoma City.

Roberts laid out the potential timeline for Kopech on Saturday, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

Kopech has had at least two days off between outings so far but is scheduled to pitch again on Sunday, according to Roberts. He will go on back-to-back days before finishing his rehab.

“I think he’s progressing, but I think there’s still a couple, two or three more outings before we see him up here,” Roberts said.

Obstruction reflection

One day after two obstruction calls were made in the series opener for the third baseman blocking the eyesight of the runner on a potential sacrifice fly — the second such call, in the top of the 13th inning, was waived off after Teoscar Hernández scored — Major League Baseball clarified that umpire Tripp Gibson called obstruction based on Rule 6.01(h)(2), which is still rather vague:

If no play is being made on the obstructed runner, the play shall proceed until no further action is possible. The umpire shall then call “Time” and impose such penalties, if any, as in his judgment will nullify the act of obstruction.

Ronald Blum of Associated Press has more reaction from Saturday, including from Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy:

Muncy spoke with Gibson about his decision.

“He said I was too intentional about getting in his way,” Muncy recalled. “My fightback was I’m 10 feet away from the bag. If I’m standing right next to him, it’s obviously obstruction, but I’m 10 feet away from the bag. There’s no way that I could be blocking that view. He said: ‘You have no business being in this area.’ And I said: ‘Well, if he cuts the ball, I’ve got to be there to make a play,’ and he didn’t have anything to say about that.”

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza also was surprised.

“That’s something that we’re going to have to follow up,” he said. “I’ve never seen this play being called like that. Honestly, as a former infielder, I did it a lot.”