Noah Syndergaard couldn’t carry over some of the success found at the end of his last start, and it resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers losing 9-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Dodgers have dropped two consecutive games and are just 3-5 on their road trip. They’ll need to win Saturday, when Tyler Glasnow makes his return to the Rays starting rotation, in order to avoid potentially losing two of the three series.
The Dodgers provided Syndergaard with a 1-0 lead thanks to singles from Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, but he allowed at least one run in each of the first four innings. Syndergaard didn’t retire the side in order until the fifth.
Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the first inning and extended it 4-1 in the second. After L.A. cut their deficit in half on J.D. Martinez’s RBI single in the third, Syndergaard allowed Taylor Walls to singlehandedly start a two-out rally after his base hit.
Walls promptly stole second base and third base, and scored on Christian Bethancourt’s single.
The Rays went into the game leading the Majors with 62 stolen bases, and the Dodgers had allowed the most at 63. Additionally, opponents were 12-for-13 on stolen base attempts against Syndergaard this season.
The Rays were successful in all three attempts off Syndergaard, and had four total stolen bases in the game.
If there was a silver lining to be found for the beleaguered right-hander, he became the first Dodgers starting pitcher to complete six innings since Julio Urías on May 13.
Syndergaard’s 6.37 ERA is the highest by a Dodgers pitcher through his first 10 starts of a season (minimum 40 innings) since Hideo Nomo’s 7.33 ERA in 2004.
Dodgers offense struggled
Although the Dodgers found themselves trailing after the first inning, there were ample opportunities against a Rays bullpen that has been a weakness for the team this season.
That particularly held true for Max Muncy, who had two runners on four of his five at-bats, only to go hitless in the loss. Since hitting two home runs on May 15, Muncy is just 5-for-37 with one double, one home run, three RBI, four walks and 16 strikeouts the last 10 games (nine starts).
Freeman, Smith and Martinez had two hits each to combine for six of the Dodgers’ nine in the game. The Dodgers finished 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.
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