Following a disappointing showing at the plate on Tuesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts urged his players to “plan better” in their approach.
Yet, during the day, it seemed the team was still searching for answers.
In a tight 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday, the Dodgers not only fell for the third consecutive time against a team in rebuilding mode but also sparked fresh concerns about the instability in their lineup.
They managed just seven hits throughout the game, converting only two out of eleven at-bats with runners in scoring position. Despite having the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth, Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play.
Besides a dramatic ninth-inning walk-off on Monday, the Dodgers only scored five runs across the remaining 26 innings of the series.
On Wednesday, they faced the former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who allowed all seven hits in his six-inning outing with only two runs earned.
Unfortunately, this marked the Dodgers’ seventh loss in their last twelve games—a concerning trend, given their otherwise strong performance this season, though they’ve shown glaring inconsistencies early on.
At 20-11, the Dodgers had multiple opportunities to gain momentum on Wednesday.
In fact, in four separate innings, they placed a runner on second base without any outs.
But capitalizing on these chances continued to be a struggle. If not for some good fortune, they could have ended up scoreless.
Their first run came when Miami shortstop Otto Lopez mishandled a two-out infield hit from Alex Cole, letting one score in what could be described as a lucky break. In the sixth inning, Dalton Rushing managed to get on base with a soft bloop single after Kyle Tucker’s leadoff double, which just barely found the grass in right field.
Beyond that, the team was unable to get back to their home run-hitting ways—marking the sixth time in the past nine games without hitting a home run.
The Marlins managed to score their runs against Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow primarily through home runs. Liam Hicks knocked one out in the second inning, followed by a similar blast from former Dodgers player Esteely Ruiz in the fifth.
Despite that, Glasnow maintained a solid performance, allowing only two runs with nine strikeouts across 5.2 innings. He struggled a bit with walks, issuing them to six batters—a career high—but surprisingly managed to strike out each of those batters. He even recorded six strikeouts in a row at one point, though high pitch counts limited his outing.
The game remained tied at 2-2 until the eighth inning when Javier Sanoja managed to score the go-ahead run for the Marlins against Will Klein.
In the ninth inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases after three walks, including back-to-back walks from Hye-sung Kim and Alex Cole. Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked after a sacrifice bunt, yet Freeman couldn’t convert the opportunity, grounding out to second base. Xavier Edwards made the play, tagging Ohtani and stepping on first base to end the game.
