TORONTO – The Dodgers needed a more favorable exchange rate before returning to the United States. They needed to convert some well-hit balls into actual base hits.
Outfielders Daulton Varsho and George Springer robbed the Dodgers of potential extra-base hits four times Sunday as the Toronto Blue Jays handed the Dodgers a 3-1 defeat, snapping the Dodgers’ six-game winning streak.
“Yeah, they made plays,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Varsho, Springer made some good plays that kept them in it.”
More to the point, it kept the Dodgers out of it. Right-hander Kevin Gausman held them to five hits over seven innings. During the six-game winning streak, the Dodgers scored 43 runs and batted .338 (22 for 85) with runners in scoring position. They were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position Sunday with Freddie Freeman’s solo home run in the sixth inning providing the only run.
“He just located his pitches very well today,” Freeman said of Gausman. “When you can locate fastballs, it doesn’t matter how hard you throw or how many times you do it. It’s just a good pitch. It doesn’t matter if it was 87 or 97 (mph). If you can locate a fastball, you’re going to get guys out.”
Varsho and Springer were in the best locations to help Gausman Sunday and it started in the first inning when Shohei Ohtani sent a 106.6 mph line drive to the wall in center field. Varsho caught it just as he ran into the wall.
In the fourth, Freeman sent Springer to the wall in right field to track down his long fly ball.
Doubles by Andy Pages (with two outs in the second inning), Gavin Lux (with one out in the third) and Max Muncy (leading off the fifth) were wasted. Only Lux advanced past second base, moving to third on a ground out.
But the Dodgers’ best scoring chance came after Gausman left the game.
Austin Barnes led off the eighth inning against former teammate Yimi Garcia by working a 10-pitch walk. Mookie Betts doubled with Barnes going to third. After Ohtani popped out, the Jays intentionally walked Freeman to load the bases.
Teoscar Hernandez struck out before lefty reliever Tim Mayza came in to face Muncy. Muncy sent another long drive toward the outfield wall. Varsho caught this one with a little jump at the wall in right-center field.
“Felt good. Hit it good. Just hit it too high,” Muncy said. “I think it was a 42-degree launch angle. It’s tough when you get that to the center part of the field. Good at-bat. Got a pitch to hit. Can’t really say I missed it. Just hit it too high.”
Freeman offered a different critique.
“Max needed to do one more bicep curl today,” he joked.
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The Dodgers have now gone 4 for 27 (.148) with 13 strikeouts with the bases loaded this season.
“I think that early on (this season), I don’t think we took good at bats,” Roberts said. “Now recently, I don’t know – call it the last five or six games – I think we’ve been better. But yeah, that situation right there, Yimi made a good pitch on Teo, I think there was a fastball in the middle of the count that I thought we could’ve moved forward. But then he threw a good two-seamer on that last pitch.
“Part of it is giving yourself a chance, part of it is driving in those runs. But it’s one of those things, those guys are going to make pitches and get outs, too.”
The Jays’ outfield still had one more big play to make and it was probably the best of the bunch.
Pages led off the ninth with a drive into the right-center field gap. Springer caught it with an all-out dive.
“It’s a different game (if that falls in),” Muncy said.
Opening a bullpen game, Michael Grove retired the side in order in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second when Justin Turner dribbled a ball up the third-base line for an infield single and Davis Schneider followed with a double to left-center field.
Back-to-back soft ground balls pushed across two runs and Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk went deep for a solo home run before Grove could get out of the inning. It was the first time the Dodgers trailed by multiple runs in over a week.
Alex Vesia and Ryan Yarbrough kept the Jays scoreless over the next five innings.