Emmet Sheehan struggles in Dodgers’ lopsided loss to Orioles

LOS ANGELES — Even when Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan found the plate on Sunday afternoon, it didn’t seem to matter.

Sheehan wobbled and weaved through 3⅓ innings against the visiting Baltimore Orioles before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had seen enough.

By then, however, the table had already been set for a 12-1 rout by the Orioles in the rubber game of the three-game series at Dodger Stadium.

The loss was the second straight for the Dodgers, something they haven’t experienced since a four-game skid from May 9-12. They had won nine straight following a defeat since then.

Sheehan (3-5) was tagged for six runs and eight hits in his fourth straight loss to open the month. The 26-year-old right-hander struck out four and walked three.

It was the second abbreviated start in the past three outings for Sheehan, who was removed after 1⅓ innings two Sundays earlier in a 13-5 loss to the visiting Angels, which was previously the most one-sided defeat of the season for the Dodgers.

Sheehan threw just 47 of 82 pitches for strikes against Baltimore, and 10 of 21 first-pitch strikes.

Sheehan had difficulty falling behind right from the start.

Taylor Ward led off with a single on a 2-0 pitch. Gunnar Henderson followed with a ground-rule double on the first pitch he saw, and Sheehan fell behind Pete Alonso 3-0 before walking him to load the bases.

Following a mound visit, Samuel Basallo snuck a one-hopper through the right side to score Ward for a 1-0 lead.

After Coby Mayo was called out on a 3-2 check swing that appeared to be ball four, Colton Cowser looped an opposite-field single to shallow left to plate another run for a 2-0 lead.

Sheehan avoided further damage by striking out Leody Taveras and getting Blaze Alexander to pop out to first.

Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom half of the first with a walk and Freddie Freeman lined a hard single to right with one out. Max Muncy came up with two outs and lined an opposite-field single to left, scoring Ohtani just ahead of the tag to cut it to 2-1.

Baltimore got the run back in the second when Ward lined a four-seam fastball just over the fence in right-center field to make it 3-1.

Cowser came up with one out in the third and matched Ward with a solo shot to straightaway center to extend the lead to 4-1.

After walking two of the first three batters in the fourth, Sheehan was replaced by left-hander Jack Dreyer, who struck out the first batter he faced before surrendering a walk and a two-run single to Cowser to stretch the advantage to 6-1.

Back-to-back one-out doubles by Alexander and No. 9 hitter Jeremiah Jackson in the seventh off Jonathan Hernandez made it 7-1. Pete Alonso then went the other way for a three-run homer to right, and it was 10-1.

The Orioles weren’t through with the long ball, as Alexander hit a two-run shot in the eighth to make it 12-1.