The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from a disappointing road trip only to blow a four-run lead to the Chicago Cubs, who extended their winning streak to 10 games.
Will Smith again provided a big swing as his three-run home run in the third inning gave the Dodgers their initial lead. The homer was Smith’s third of the season. Hyeseong Kim added an RBI single in the fourth inning that put the Dodgers up 4-0, but their bullpen was not able to uphold it.
The Dodgers have lost five of their last seven games.
Cubs 6, Dodgers 4: key takeaways
Shohei Ohtani’s slump
Prior to the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed his belief that Shohei Ohtani has been battling “a little anxiousness” at the plate and it’s resulted in something of a slump.
Ohtani exhibited some of his recent tendency to chase pitches and went 0-for-3 with one walk and three strikeouts. Two of Ohtani’s strikeouts came with at least one runner on base.
Emmet Sheehan’s velocity
Plenty of attention has been put on Emmet Sheehan’s fluctuating velocity this season, which had started to stabilize in recent outings. There were more increases and drops in Sheehan’s fastball velocity but he pitched 6.1 innings and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts.
Sheehan wound up averaging 94.3 mph on his fastball, which is in line with what’s been see this season.
Pete Crow-Armstrong booed
Southern California native Pete Crow-Armstrong caused a stir during Spring Training when he was critical of Dodgers fans and further dug in when asked for clarification on his jaded perception.
Naturally, Crow-Armstrong was not well-received at Dodger Stadium. Fans booed him during lineup introductions and again for each of his at-bats.
The young Cubs center fielder finished 1-for-3 with one walk and one strikeout.
Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen & Tanner Scott falter
Sheehan exited with the Dodgers leading 4-0 but had a run charged to him as part of Alex Vesia allowing three to score in the seventh inning. Some of that was due to Andy Pages dropping a fly ball at the wall in left-center field.
Blake Treinen gave up a game-tying home run to Alex Bregman to lead off the eighth inning, and Tanner Scott surrendered a go-ahead blast to Dansby Swanson in the ninth.
It marked a second consecutive appearance that Treinen struggled in after an encouraging start to the season. Scott was pitching on the second night of a back-to-back after converting the save against the San Francisco Giants.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has indicated Scott will likely receive the bulk of the save opportunities while Edwin Díaz recovers from right elbow surgery.
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