Dodgers blown out by Cubs in worst home shutout loss in franchise history
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers fans have come out to Dodger Stadium this season and gone home with free T-shirts, replica jerseys, hoodies and bobbleheads.
But they went home with something new Saturday night – the disappointment of a loss.
Their unfamiliarity with the sensation produced some grumbling of unfulfilled entitlement from the sellout crowd as a five-run sixth inning broke open a 16-0 victory for the Chicago Cubs over the Dodgers Saturday night.
It wasn’t just any loss, though.
It was the worst home shutout loss in franchise history. And it was the Dodgers’ first loss of any measure at home since Game 2 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets last fall, their first regular-season home loss since Sept. 24 against the San Diego Padres.
It was also the first time they had been shutout (regular season or postseason) since July 26 in Houston, the first time at Dodger Stadium since the Arizona Diamondbacks blanked them last May 22.
“It was a close one. Then it got away,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said. “It’s not fun being back there while they’re just teeing off of a position player. Just, you know, sucks. But got to move on.”
Lopsided as the final score was (Miguel Rojas was deployed as a pitcher for the final two innings), it was a 1-0 game midway through and it looked like the Dodgers’ lack of offense would be the thing to ruin Roki Sasaki’s best start to date.
The young right-hander completed five innings for the first time and allowed just one run on a solo home run by Michael Busch in the second inning.
“Just given the context that I haven’t reached the five-inning mark the last three outings, I think it was really important for me to be able to reach that point this time,” Sasaki said through his interpreter. “I hope to be able to do that as a minimum going forward.”
The Dodgers would appreciate that as well and Dave Roberts called Sasaki’s five innings the lone highlight on a bad night.
“Absolutely,” Roberts said. “Today, the hope was he continue to build on his last start. For me, that was the silver lining of the night, and probably the most important piece of the game was for him to get better, go deeper in the game, throw strikes, get strikeouts, soft contact.
“Like I told him down below afterward, now we can keep pushing him along and keep going forward.”
Busch was a thorn in the Dodgers’ side all night. He came up with the bases loaded (on two walks and an Ian Happ single) in the third inning and drove a Sasaki fastball 399 feet to straightaway center field. Andy Pages crashed into the wall, reaching up to rob Busch of a potential grand slam.
“I was talking to Teo that pitch earlier and I was saying, ‘Any ball that’s hit in my vicinity, I have to make a play,’” Pages said through his interpreter. “I was able to get a great jump. Then when I was close to the wall I was able to feel where I was at and jump and make the play.”
Busch was at it again in the sixth inning. He doubled off Dodgers reliever, Ben Casparius, and scored the Cubs’ second run on an RBI single by Justin Turner.
The Cubs blew the game open with five runs off Casparius in the seventh, making the 1-0 game it was through five innings a distant memory.
“I think tonight Ben just didn’t command the baseball. The slider wasn’t sharp. The fastball was mis-commanded,” Roberts said. “It just sort of spiraled right there. He just couldn’t make pitches tonight. He’s been great. He was great for us last year. He was great early on. So I’m not going to put too much credence into one rough outing.”
The Dodgers could do nothing against Cubs starter Ben Brown’s simple repertoire. He threw 84 pitches in six scoreless innings – 56 four-seam fastballs and 28 knuckle curves, pounding the strike zone with both.
The Dodgers made him work a little in the first inning. A leadoff single by Shohei Ohtani, a stolen base and an infield single by Teoscar Hernandez put runners on the corners with two outs. But Brown froze Michael Conforto for a called third strike on a knuckle curve.
After throwing 25 pitches in that inning, Brown needed 11 or fewer to retire the side in three of the next four innings, allowing just two baserunners in that time – another single by Hernandez in the fourth and a leadoff single by Max Muncy in the fifth. Muncy was rolled up in an inning-ending double play two batters later.
While the Cubs were putting up 14 runs in the final three innings, the Dodgers had just one hit – a two-out bloop single by Chris Taylor in the ninth.
“I think he’s getting better,” Barnes said of Sasaki, picking up Roberts’ “silver lining” theme. “I mean, he’s 23. It’s the big leagues, four starts. Everybody knew he was going to get better and better. I think he’s got a clear path to what he wants to do and I think he’ll be fine.”