CINCINNATI — Ever tried making a king-sized bed with a queen-sized bedsheet? Then you know how Dave Roberts feels about his bullpen these days.
Undermanned since Evan Phillips and Joe Kelly joined Ryan Brasier and Brusdar Graterol on the injured list, the Dodgers have cycled pitchers through their roster on a nearly daily basis – they’ve used 27 already this season, 19 just in the 13 games before Friday. The search for relievers capable of handling high-leverage situations is ongoing.
Remarkably, the revolving-door relief corps had a 1.91 ERA in 29 games.
Before Friday, that is.
Everything came untucked in the fifth inning as the Cincinnati Reds scored six times, turning a two-run Dodgers lead into a third consecutive Dodgers defeat, 9-6.
The three-game losing streak matches their longest this season.
James Paxton’s year of living dangerously continued.
The veteran left-hander is walking hitters at a career-high rate. After back-to-back walk-free starts, he went back to it Friday, walking two of the first three batters he faced and watching them both ride home on a three-run home run by the fourth batter. His strikeout and walk totals for the season remain neck and neck (28 of each).
But the Dodgers’ offense lurched back to life long enough to give Paxton (still undefeated at 5-0) a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Chris Taylor had a two-run double in a four-run second inning – his first extra-base hit since Sept. 21 of last season – and Will Smith hit a solo home run in the fifth.
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Paxton gave up a solo home run to Stuart Fairchild to start the bottom of the fifth but retired the next two batters. That brought him to 95 pitches with three right-handed hitters coming up. Paxton hasn’t thrown more than 97 in a start this season Roberts pulled him and brought in right-hander Yohan Ramirez to get the final out in the fifth, nursing a one-run lead. It was soon in need of intensive care.
One out was more than Ramirez had in him. Acquired out of the DFA bin earlier this week – the Mets having tossed him there for a second time this season – Ramirez threw 13 pitches. He hit Tyler Stephenson with one of them, walked Santiago Espinal to load the bases then hit Nick Martini with his last pitch – perhaps his last for the Dodgers, DFAs tending to breed in the wild.
That tied the score. Alex Vesia came in to face Jonathan India with the bases still loaded. Vesia fell behind 3-and-0, got back to a full count then caught too much of the plate with a fastball inside. India drove it over the wall in the left field corner for a grand slam.
Two outstanding catches by Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild robbed the Dodgers of potential extra-base hits and protected the Reds’ lead until Teoscar Hernandez hit a solo home run in the ninth.
More to come on this story.