Dodgers’ defense costs them in loss to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — They couldn’t blame the starting pitching this time.

Poor defense undermined a solid effort from the staff’s accidental ace, Gavin Stone, and led to the tie-breaking runs in the fifth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies handed the Dodgers their latest loss, 4-3, on Wednesday night.

The loss was the Dodgers’ seventh in their past 11 games.

“That’s a frustrating one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“I think that with him (Stone), he needs his defense. That’s just the way it is. He’s not going to go out there and punch a bunch every single time out and tonight he had I think three strikeouts. There was a lot of balls in play, not a lot of swing and miss. So you look back at some of the plays that we just couldn’t come up with, those plays, that changes the game. It seemed like today the ball had eyes, and that’s baseball.”

The Dodgers’ starting pitchers have a 9.06 ERA in that time but Stone did his best not to continue that trend Wednesday night. He gave up a leadoff home run to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning and a second run in the second inning when left fielder Miguel Vargas misplayed Brandon Marsh’s drive near the wall.

Kiké Hernandez started an inning-ending double play from his knees at third base to avoid more damage in the third inning and the score was tied 2-2 when Whit Merrifield led off the bottom of the fourth.

He lofted a routine fly ball into center field but Andy Pages lost in the dusky sky. It fell on the grass behind him and Merrifield raced into third with a triple.

“It’s the twilight and sometimes when it gets up there in the sky you just lose it,” Roberts said. “(Pages) has been doing a nice job out there in center field and there’s just nothing he could’ve done right there. Just turned into a triple.”

Merrifield was still on third two batters later. With the infield in, Garrett Stubbs bounced out to Freddie Freeman and Chris Taylor made a run-saving stab to get Schwarber’s high-bounced grounder for the second out.

But Trea Turner hit a ground ball to Miguel Rojas’ left. The shortstop got to it but would have had to hurry to get the speedy Turner. It didn’t matter. Rojas didn’t pick it cleanly. Turner was safe and the go-ahead run scored. Alec Bohm followed with a double and a chopped grounder by Bryson Stott brought in a second run.

“I make that play nine times out of 10. I feel that’s on me,” Rojas said. “Not just that play but the next play when Stott hit the ball towards second base. I think it’s an easier play for me than for CT at that moment.”

Turner broke his bat on his grounder and he is one of the fastest runners in baseball. But Rojas still thought he could have thrown him out to end the inning with the score still tied.

“Yeah. Even though I was playing in the hole, he hit it up the middle, broke his bat whatever. I feel I had a chance if I put the glove on the ball and make a play,” Rojas said. “I’ve made that play before and I feel like if I catch it I have a pretty good chance with my arm to get him out. I have to make sure I catch that ball.”

The Dodgers’ offense scratched out single runs in the fourth and fifth innings against Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez.

Against the Phillies’ bullpen in the seventh inning, a leadoff double by Taylor and a single by Austin Barnes put runners at the corners with one out for Shohei Ohtani. But Ohtani struck out. against Phillies lefty Matt Strahm and Teoscar Hernandez flew out to right field.

The Dodgers made it a one-run game in the eighth when Pages doubled and Rojas lined a ball into left field. Pages scored but Rojas was out trying to stretch it into a double. The play was confirmed on replay after the umpire ruled Rojas’ foot had come off the base.

“My cleat got stuck on his glove and when he was pulling his glove up, I got off the bag. That’s unfortunate,” Rojas said. “I think I beat the throw to second base. When I felt my foot come off the bag, the umpire got a pretty good view that my foot came up. I thought he was going to make a call that he pushed me off. I don’t know if he was trying to push me off or not. But my cleat actually got stuck on the glove.

“You want to get in scoring position. I think I did everything I could to beat the throw to second base. I got in there. Obviously I was off the bag when he pulled his glove up.”

That out proved costly, not only preventing Rojas from getting into scoring position as the tying run but also in the ninth inning. Phillies closer Jeff Hoffman retired the side in order in the ninth – leaving Ohtani on deck as the game ended.

“Obviously we’ve been losing a lot of players lately, but that’s how the game is,” outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said of the undermanned Dodgers. “You need to figure out how to stay in the game and keep winning.”