Defensive miscues cost the Dodgers two runs on Monday. Stellar defense from the Washington Nationals prevented two more.
In the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss at Nationals Park to open a three-game series, that proved to be the difference. And, with the team having now lost three of their last four games, it reinforced what is fast becoming a disconcerting early-season theme.
As was the story in this past weekend’s series defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies, when defensive breakdowns and baserunning blunders ended the team’s 8-0 start to the season, the Dodgers continued to struggle with the fundamentals on Monday, digging an early hole from which they never fully recovered — even on a night Shohei Ohtani came up a double short of the cycle.
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With two on and one out in the top of the second, Mookie Betts let a hard-hit one-hopper blaze by him at shortstop, getting charged with an error that allowed an unearned run to score. With two outs, Miguel Rojas booted a more routine grounder at second base, resulting in yet another error and unearned run.
The Nationals’ defense, on the other hand, twice took away hits that doused potentially dangerous Dodgers rallies.
In the top of the third, Max Muncy was robbed of extra bases on a diving catch in right field by Alex Call — just three batters before Ohtani whacked a two-run homer that otherwise would have scored three.
In the fifth, Rojas was denied a hit when shortstop Paul DeJong made a diving stop deep in the hole — just two batters before Ohtani laced a triple that would have brought him home, but instead was wasted in a scoreless inning.
Opposing teams’ defense, of course, is out of the Dodgers’ control.
But their own repeated mistakes have emerged as a growing source of frustration in this campaign’s opening weeks.
The Dodgers (9-3) have committed seven errors, all within the last six games. They ...
