LOS ANGELES \u2014 For six innings Wednesday night, the Dodgers had everything they could have wanted.<\/p>\n
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was carving through the St. Louis Cardinals. Freddie Freeman had finally ended a 47-game home run drought with a three-run blast in the first inning. Mookie Betts added another in the fifth. The Dodgers had an early lead, their ace was in command and the night appeared to be setting up for the kind of comfortable September victory a veteran team should be capable of banking.<\/p>\n
Instead, another game slipped away.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers fell to the Cardinals 8-6 in 10 innings at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, dropping their sixth game in their last eight and adding another painful chapter to what has become an increasingly familiar September pattern: opportunities everywhere, execution nowhere.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 runners.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For a team built around veterans who have spent years winning games in the margins, the Dodgers are doing neither right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s time to be disappointed,\u201d Dave Roberts said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone cares. We just have to find a way to win baseball games.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the problem Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers repeatedly had chances to put the Cardinals away. Instead, St. Louis kept hanging around until the game finally turned into another extra-inning nightmare.<\/p>\n
And perhaps most concerning, the player at the center of everything, Shohei Ohtani, looked unlike himself.<\/p>\n
Ohtani struck out in each of his final four at-bats and finished the night showing the kind of physical discomfort that immediately became a bigger story than the loss itself.<\/p>\n
Roberts said he plans to speak with Ohtani and the training staff Thursday about how the star is feeling and whether he will be available. A stint on the injured list appears unlikely at the moment, but a day off would not be surprising.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the same thing that everyone saw,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cClearly the swings aren\u2019t who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts believes Ohtani’s struggles are more physical than mental.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s as strong mentally as a player as I\u2019ve ever been around,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers, however, had plenty of problems before Ohtani’s final strikeout.<\/p>\n
Freeman finally goes deep<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It has been so long since Freeman hit a home run that even seeing him circle the bases felt unusual.<\/p>\n
The drought had stretched all the way back to July 4, 47 games without a home run, the longest homerless stretch of his career.<\/p>\n
Then, in the first inning Wednesday, Freeman finally got one.<\/p>\n
Facing Cardinals left-hander Brycen Mautz, Freeman watched a 93-mph fastball and then crushed it toward the left-field pavilion, sending a three-run homer into the night and giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n
For a few innings, it looked like the breakthrough the Dodgers desperately needed.<\/p>\n
Mookie Betts followed with a missile into the left field pavilion for his 17th homer of the season, extending the lead to 5-2.<\/p>\n
Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez also delivered, collecting his fifth three-hit game of the season.<\/p>\n
And Yamamoto looked every bit like the ace the Dodgers needed him to be. Yamamoto was nearly untouchable from the beginning.<\/p>\n
Through five innings, he had allowed just one baserunner, a walk to Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn in the third, while striking out seven.<\/p>\n
No hits. 58 pitches. The Cardinals had almost nothing against him.<\/p>\n
Then Ferm\u00edn came back around in the sixth and finally broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single to right.<\/p>\n
That was the beginning of the unraveling.<\/p>\n
Thomas Saggese, who had already homered twice Tuesday, followed with a two-run shot to center field, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 3-2.<\/p>\n
The numbers surrounding Saggese’s series were absurd.<\/p>\n
He had entered the series with only four home runs in 434 career plate appearances. Against the Dodgers? Three home runs in seven plate appearances.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto eventually escaped the sixth, but the Cardinals had found an opening.<\/p>\n
Roberts sent him back out for the seventh. It became another nail-biter. Leo Bernal, hitting his first career home run, launched a two-run shot off Yamamoto to bring St. Louis within one at 5-4.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto’s final line: seven innings, five hits, four runs, two walks and eight strikeouts on 93 pitches.<\/p>\n
For five innings, he had looked dominant.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto’s 0.90 WHIP still ranks second in MLB, a reminder that even with Wednesday’s late deterioration, the right-hander has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have great players,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cI think we will be able to get over this hump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Another lead. Another late collapse.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers needed their bullpen to protect a one-run lead. It couldn’t.<\/p>\n
Tanner Scott was unable to hold the advantage in the eighth, allowing St. Louis to tie the game 5-5.<\/p>\n
Just like that, a game that had once looked like a potential runaway was headed for extra innings.<\/p>\n
And that’s where the Dodgers finally broke.<\/p>\n
In the 10th, Saggese came through again, beating out an infield single to bring home the go-ahead run.<\/p>\n
Then Bryan Torres lined a two-run double down the left-field line.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the Cardinals led 8-5.<\/p>\n
Brock Stewart had entered the game with one job: keep the Dodgers within striking distance.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers had spent the entire night creating opportunities and failing to capitalize on them. In the 10th, they finally paid the full price.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers managed one run in the bottom half, but the deficit was too much.<\/p>\n
The margin for error is getting smaller The Dodgers are still 82-57. They are still more than 25 games over .500. They are still the back-to-back World Series champions.<\/p>\n
Those are facts Freeman pointed to afterward when asked how this team can break out of its recent slump.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are 25 plus games over .500. We are back-to-back World Series champions. We are a great team,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cGreat teams go through it, and we’ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freddie Freeman discusses how the team can break out of their slump from the past few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are 25 plus games over 500. We are back-to-back World Series champions. We are a great team. Great teams go through it, and we’ll be all right.\u201d@SportingTrib<\/a> | #Dodgers<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/K2xBYLPpEx<\/a><\/p>\n