WASHINGTON — When the Dodgers boasted of their starting pitching depth leading into this season, All-Stars like Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin were the arms they had in mind.
None of those three are ready to pitch in the big leagues yet, so the Dodgers turned to a different level of the depth chart this week, starting Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack in back-to-back against the Washington Nationals.
Those two combined to allow 13 runs on 12 hits and seven walks in 7⅓ innings.
Midway through Wednesday’s game at Nationals Park, that left the Dodgers staring at a potential three-game sweep by the Washington Nationals and a four-game losing streak to end their East Coast trip. But Teoscar Hernandez’s eighth RBI of the six-game trip retrieved a 6-5 victory over the Nats.
“Not much other than we have a lot of things to clean up,” utility man Kiké Hernandez said when asked what to make of this trip. “We didn’t necessarily run the bases great. We played some sloppy defense throughout the road trip. We had some moments offensively but then we also had a lot of empty at-bats. But I’m not going to sit here and make a big deal out of it. We just had a tough week and today was a nice way to end a tough road trip.”
Undefeated when they left California a week ago, the Dodgers return looking much more human after a flaws-filled 2-4 trip.
“When you’re expected to win 162 games in a season and you lose four in a week, it could feel like the world’s ending,” Kiké Hernandez said. “But at the end of the day, we have 148 more. At some point, we were going to play (bad) baseball and it just seemed like this was the week to do that.”
A lackluster offensive effort Tuesday night – highlighted by 15 strikeouts – was part of that and before Wednesday’s game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts promised that wouldn’t happen again and that his team would perform better with the motivation of avoiding a sweep.
He was correct – for four batters.
The first four in the Dodgers’ lineup reached base to start the game and all four scored runs thanks to a two-run triple by Tommy Edman and a two-run home run by Teoscar Hernandez.
The offense went into hibernation after that, though. Nationals starter Jake Irvin retired 18 of the next 21 Dodgers, allowing only a single and two walks while striking out seven in that time, taking advantage of the late-afternoon shadows created by the 4 p.m. start.
“I thought early, we came out with some good intent, some good energy. Obviously, put a four-spot up and felt good about the start of the game,” Roberts said. “And unfortunately, today, it just didn’t seem like Landon had any feel for the baseball. There was just a lot of bad misses with all of his pitches.”
Knack was handed a four-run lead before he took the mound Wednesday and squandered it by the end of the third inning.
He gave up a leadoff home run to C.J. Abrams and walked three in a 41-pitch, three-run first inning then surrendered the lead in the third when he gave up a walk and two more hits before Roberts pulled him.
“First inning especially, just completely out of sync with stuff,” Knack said. “Release point just not there. Really didn’t have changeup command today, and so just kept falling behind, just not able to execute like we usually would. Four walks on the day – that’s not me. Obviously, very frustrating.”
Knack will stick around and make another start next Tuesday or Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies, Roberts said. But his shaky start turned the series finale in Washington into more of an impromptu bullpen game. The relievers did their job, holding the line and not allowing another hit until there was one out in the eighth inning.
The Nats’ bullpen was not quite as sturdy. Irvin left after six innings and 103 pitches and the Dodgers reclaimed the lead almost immediately. Andy Pages homered for the second consecutive game to tie the score. Ohtani beat out an infield single, stole second and scored the go-ahead run when Hernandez flared a two-out single into right field.
That reclaimed lead was in danger in the ninth inning, though, when the Nationals got the tying run to second base against Blake Treinen. First baseman Kiké Hernandez made a sprawling play to his right and got a force out at second base, holding the tying run at third and preventing the go-ahead run from reaching scoring position.
Hernandez’s play was one most first basemen don’t make. But Hernandez isn’t really a first baseman.
“The whole time I’ve been trying to play first base as if I was playing but covering the bag instead of throwing the ball,” he said. “In that situation, tying run at second and winning run at first, during the mound visit I told Blake, ‘Hey, I’m going to be a little deeper with CJ hitting.’ I just wanted to make sure I covered a little more ground because I didn’t want the ball to get down the line and end up being a game-winning double.
“The ball ended up being hit toward the hole. It took a weird hop and the ball went away from me. … So I wasn’t sure I was going to get there. Then once I felt the ball go in the glove, instincts took over and I thought the only chance was going to be at second because CJ is really fast and Blake is going to be on the run and I was in a really awkward position to twist from my knees and throw to first.”
Roberts said he couldn’t think of another first baseman that could “make that play right there.”
“I think we’d probably still be playing if he didn’t make that play,” Roberts said.
Instead, Treinen got James Wood to ground out to end the game and avoid the sweep.
“I don’t want to say we’re desperate for a win at times, but we didn’t want to leave here without one,” said Kirby Yates, one of the six relievers Roberts deployed after Knack’s early exit.
“It’s still really early in the season. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played. I wouldn’t say it was a must-win, but it’s very nice to win and get back on the plane and head home to L.A.”