The Los Angeles Dodgers went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position Tuesday night, but it was Rich Hill who assumed blame for their shutout loss to the San Francisco Giants. Hill allowed one run in five innings.
Brandon Belt tacked on an insurance run for San Francisco in the ninth inning by hitting a solo home run off Grant Dayton. The lone run Hill allowed came on Eduardo Nunez’s wall-scraper in the fifth inning.
Initially ruled a triple, the call was quickly overturned after replay showed the ball bounced hit a camera beyond the left field wall and bounced back into play.
“I threw the ball well, but at the end of the day it’s disappointing. I made one mistake to Nunez,” Hill said.
“The fastball was supposed to be down and I completely missed all the way in. For me, that’s where I take 100 percent responsibility for this. It’s not acceptable to miss like that at this level.”
The home run came at an unfortunate time for Hill, as he was due to lead off the bottom of the fifth. He’d thrown just 77 pitches, but with the Dodgers’ deficit and Hill’s history with blisters, it marked the end of the road.
“It was more of preservation. … The blister, we’re consciously trying to monitor,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained after the loss. “It was going to be another inning at the most, anyway.”
Hill acknowledged his blister is monitored between innings, but he isn’t focused on that or concerned by it. “When I’m out there and have the ball in my hand to pitch, to be honest with you, (pitching) is all I’m thinking about, he said.
“It’s not about anything else that I can’t control except for executing pitches.” Hill has gone deeper than six innings in only one of his five starts with the Dodgers.
That came against the Miami Marlins when the veteran southpaw had a perfect game intact, but was removed after 89 pitches over seven innings. The Dodgers presumably will take the restrictions off come the postseason.
Whether Hill is permitted to pitch deeper into games prior to that point, he doesn’t believe makes any difference. “I don’t think it matters. It’s been such a crazy season, with having time off and getting back into it,” Hill said.
“I fielded some questions where people were surprised at how I was able to come back and pitch with a lack of rehab starts. The moment presents itself, the occasion rises, and you’re ready to perform when it comes about.”
