LOS ANGELES — A continent separates the Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, but they have one thing very much in common.
Eight different pitchers who started at least one game for the Dodgers this season have spent time on the injured list. Two key pieces of their starting rotation – Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto – are still on the IL in the midst of a race for the division.
The Orioles have their own list of casualties in baseball’s pitching injury epidemic. Grayson Rodriguez, John Means, Kyle Bradish, Zach Eflin and Tyler Wells have all been subtracted from the Orioles’ starting rotation by injuries (Means, Bradish and Wells for the season).
John Flaherty was acquired by the Dodgers last month to step into the breech and he has pitched well enough. He allowed two home runs but just three runs in six innings Tuesday night against the Orioles. But the combined effort of five Orioles pitchers was just a little better as they beat the Dodgers, 3-2, in the opener of a three-game series.
The Dodgers (78-54) had averaged 5.1 runs per game since Mookie Betts returned from his hand injury just over two weeks ago but seven hits produced just two runs in Tuesday’s loss.
The loss was just the Dodgers’ fifth in their past 17 games. But it left them with a three-game lead in the National League West over both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, who split their games Tuesday night – the Padres won in St. Louis while the Diamondbacks lost at home to the New York Mets.
Flaherty’s first mistake came in the second inning when he grooved a 3-and-1 fastball to Ryan O’Hearn. O’Hearn lined it over the right-field wall for a solo home run.
The right-hander worked out of a first-and-third situation with two outs in the third inning, stranding both runners. He struck out the side in the fourth then ran into trouble at the bottom of the Orioles’ lineup in the fifth.
No. 8 hitter Jackson Holliday singled to center field and No. 9 hitter Ramon Urias clubbed a slider at the knees into the Dodgers’ bullpen, the two-run home run causing Flaherty to drop to his knees on the mound.
Urias’ homer turned around a brief Dodger lead.
Tommy Edman tripled into the left-field corner with one out in the second inning against Orioles starter Cole Irvin then scored on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Rojas.
An inning later, Shohei Ohtani singled with two outs, Mookie Betts walked and Teoscar Hernandez singled to drive in Ohtani with his National League-leading 101st run of the season. It was also Hernandez’s 37th two-out RBI of the season, fifth in the majors.
The Dodgers had a chance to regain the lead in the fifth inning when Kiké Hernandez led off with a double and Chris Taylor followed with a walk. Both were stranded, though, when the top of the Dodgers’ lineup went down in order.
The Dodgers got the tying run on base in both the eighth and ninth innings against the Orioles’ bullpen. Betts singled with one out in the eighth and stole second base, but Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith struck out.
In the ninth, Rojas singled with one out. Kevin Kiermaier pinch-ran for him and moved into scoring position with two outs when Gavin Lux drew a walk, but Taylor flew out to end the game.
The Dodgers finished the game 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
More to come on this story.
