Home run trouble remained an issue for the Los Angeles Dodgers and it spoiled what otherwise was an encouraging performance from Justin Wrobleski in a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
First pitch was delayed one hour and 17 minutes due to rain, and afterward the Dodgers couldn’t add onto their MLB-leading 21 comeback wins this season. Andy Pages did extend his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games but the team as a whole failed to take advantage of their opportunities against Sonny Gray.
Mookie Betts at one point was 2-for-2 with a double and single, extending his streak of reaching safely to six consecutive plate appearances. Betts’ base hit put two on with nobody out in the third inning, only for Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy to strand them.
That left the Dodgers trailing 2-0 and 0-for-7 through three innings with runners in scoring position.
Freeman entered the night with the highest on-base plus slugging percentage in Busch Stadium history and hitting .357/.333/.429 in his career against Gray, but struck out in both of his first two at-bats but later doubled off Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero.
Gray held the Dodgers scoreless over 6.1 innings, providing a big boost for the Cardinals considering they played 19 innings across two doubleheaders on Thursday.
Wrobleski initially kept the Dodgers’ deficit to 2-0 that was created when Pedro Pagés ambushed the first pitch he saw for a home run in the second inning, but the Cardinals added onto it with a two-run single from Brendan Donovan with two outs in the fifth.
Wrobleski threw a career-high 104 pitches over six innings.
He was recalled before the game to make the spot start, with Landon Knack getting optioned. Wrobleski now will likely return to Triple-A Oklahoma City as the Dodgers expect to welcome back Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech this weekend.
Dodgers rally falls short
Betts’ third hit of the game was a leadoff single in the eighth and it was followed by Freeman’s double. The Cardinals then went to Phil Maton, who struck out Hernández and Muncy before getting Pages to ground out softly.
The Dodgers were shut out for only the fourth time this season, of which two have come on the road.
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