PHOENIX — It’s no secret that the Dodgers haven’t played their best baseball over the last nine days. But during their 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, they played some of their worst.
Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski remained in a rut, giving up four runs (three earned) in 3⅓ innings. The two-run homer he surrendered to Diamondbacks switch hitter Ketel Mart in the first inning was the ninth home run he has given up in three starts.
Before his recent struggles, Wrobleski hadn’t surrendered more than three homers in three games this season.
He left a fastball belt high to Marte, who entered Sunday with a .913 OPS against left-handed pitchers. Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field corner.
After Wrobleski’s last start, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (70-48) would look into whether the left-hander might be tipping pitches, but he said before the game Sunday that those suspicions seemed “unfounded.”
While Wrobleski clearly wasn’t at his best, giving up six hits and three walks, sloppy defense didn’t help his cause.
He could have been out of the first inning before the home run, but shortstop Mookie Betts seemed to get a poor grip on the ball as he attempted to turn a double play.
The next inning, Wrobleski fielded a sacrifice bunt and sailed his throw high and wide to first base, allowing a run to score and putting another runner on base.
Later in the inning, though the run would have likely scored anyways, the usually strong relay combination of center fielder Andy Pages and Betts ended with Betts throwing over catcher Ben Rortvedt.
The Dodgers’ offense, in the meantime, went down in order in the first two innings. Betts made the best contact, but his opposite-field fly to the warning track found leather.
The rest of the way, the Dodgers tightened up their defense, and their bullpen shut down the Diamondbacks (63-56). The Dodgers’ lineup strung together hits to score on Pages’ third-inning double and Kyle Tucker’s sixth-inning triple. But they still lost for the eighth time in nine games.