Tony Gonsolin got through six innings against the Washington Nationals but took his first loss of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 4-1, which snapped their eight-game losing streak.
According to STATS LLC, it marked the first time in the Modern Era (since 1900) that a pitcher with an 11-0 record or better lost to a team that went into the day with the worst record in baseball.
Although Gonsolin suffered the loss, he generally pitched well. The Nationals didn’t have a hit until Yadiel Hernandez led off the fifth inning with a game-tying home run. Gonsolin retired the next two batters but Washington wound up stringing together a rally that produced three runs.
Some of that was misfortune as a slicing fly ball dropped in shallow left field for an RBI single, and a Juan Soto chopper went over Freddie Freeman’s head and was ruled fair, resulting in a two-run triple.
“I went out there and tried to throw strikes. Wasn’t too happy with the splitter I threw and gave up that little soft hit,” Gonsolin said.
“And then got a little jam job, just kind of happened. Robles hit that ball hard through the six hole and Soto hit that ball hard that just got over Freddie and managed to stay fair somehow. I feel like it kind of happens.
“Nobody is perfect. Every time I go out, I try to give our team a chance to win and keep us in the ballgame. It just didn’t happen. It was unfortunate, but you can’t win them all.”
Roberts defends Gonsolin
Similar to the sentiment Gonsolin expressed about his night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also felt the right-hander fared relatively well.
“I don’t think the line score was indicative of the way he threw the baseball. I thought he made a lot of borderline pitches that we didn’t get the calls on,” Roberts said.
“I thought Carlos (Torres) did a great job back there, but just very close pitches that could’ve flipped counts. And then the Soto ground ball, the chopper that ends up being a triple and drives in two, the Hernández flare that drives in a run.
“I still think giving up four runs through six innings and kind of how it manifested, I thought he threw the ball fine. We just couldn’t put anything together.”
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