Welcome to second place: Tumbling Dodgers are

The end result was historic. The method it occurred was all too acquainted.

Never before, since interleague play started in 1997, had the Dodgers been swept in a six-game season sequence by the Angels.

Plenty of instances in current weeks, however, they’ve suffered the sort of destiny that clinched that distinction Wednesday.

Entering the eighth inning at Angel Stadium, the Dodgers had been main by only one run, having once again failed to stretch a slim lead. And without many reliable choices in a just lately scuffling bullpen, supervisor Dave Roberts had few playing cards to play from his deck.

First, he despatched left-hander Justin Wrobleski out for a third inning of work. When he walked the first two batters, Roberts then turned to right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, who had pitched a number of innings the evening before.

If you’ve been watching the Dodgers over the last couple of weeks, you possibly can in all probability guess what occurred next.

Some dangerous luck: A possible inning-ending double-play grounder that took a deflection off Henriquez’s glove.

Bad execution: Henriquez throwing a center-cut fastball to Logan O’Hoppe that, even at 103.2 mph, was smoked into middle.

And, in a scene that has repeated itself time and again during the Dodgers’ current skid, lots of hanging, defeated heads.

In a 6-5 loss that was determined on O’Hoppe’s go-ahead two-run single, the Dodgers not only suffered a second sequence sweep to the Angels this yr — but also, for the first time since April 27, fell out of first place in the National League West.

“It just seems like right now,” Roberts said, “that’s the way things are going.”

From 9 video games up in the division on July 3, to one sport back of the San Diego Padres forward of their go to to Dodger Stadium this weekend.

“We’re where we’re at. We put ourselves in this spot,” Roberts said. “But no, I wouldn’t have expected us to be in second place right now.”

Indeed, numerous unexpected journey wires have contributed to the Dodgers’ sudden tumble in the standings.

For most of July, they’d the worst offense in the majors. Up until just lately, their beginning rotation was beset by accidents.

In the last week and a half, however, there’s been a common script nearly too straightforward to predict.

The Dodgers take an early lead, but miss alternatives to prolong it. Then they flip issues over to their bullpen, and watch their patchwork reduction corps inevitably start to soften.

It occurred twice last week against the St. Louis Cardinals, and once more last Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays. On Tuesday, it negated a go-ahead home run from Shohei Ohtani in the ninth inning. And on Wednesday, it wasted the lead he had left the mound with after his longest, but hardly most spectacular, pitching start of the yr.

Now, for the first time since 2021, the Dodgers have ground to make up with less than two months to go in the yr.

“It is what it is,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Can’t change it right now.”

The good news: They can change it on Friday, when the Padres come to city for the first of two essential sequence between the groups over the next 10 days.

The dangerous news: The Dodgers are coming into that pivotal stretch with four-straight losses, and a 12-21 file since July 4. The Padres, meanwhile, have received 5 straight video games and are 23-12 over that same prolonged span.

For a while on Wednesday, the Dodgers (68-53) once again clung to false hope.

They scored 3 times in the first inning, after Ohtani led off with a triple, Betts singled him home to prolong his hitting streak to eight video games, and Will Smith lifted a two-run home run down the road in left.

They maintained that lead for a lot the remaining of the evening, overcoming a uneven four-run, 4 ⅔ inning start from Ohtani (who pitched into the fifth inning for the first time since returning from his second profession Tommy John surgical procedure, and did strike out Mike Trout both instances he confronted him) by tacking on two more runs in a fourth-inning rally.

By not extending their 5-4 lead, however, the Dodgers left themselves inclined late.

“At the end of the day, we’re just not finishing the games where we have an opportunity,” Roberts said.

“It’s not like we’re going out there just laying eggs,” Betts added. “Just falling short right now.”

The evening may have been different if Andy Pages hadn’t been robbed of a two-run homer by Angels middle fielder Bryce Teodosio in the seventh inning. Or if the lineup hadn’t completed the sport without a hit in their ultimate 16 at-bats (they managed only two walks after the fifth, when they left the bases loaded on Teoscar Hernández’s inning-ending strikeout).

Instead, the sport got here down to the eighth, when Wrobleski misplaced his command after two scoreless innings earlier and left a mess for Henriquez — the best of a bunch dangerous bullpen choices on a evening Blake Treinen and Ben Casparius, hardly stalwarts themselves over the last couple weeks, had been unavailable after heavy current usage.

Henriquez’s first batter, Christian Moore, tried a sacrifice bunt that the Dodgers completely defended. Freddie Freeman crashed from first base, and acquired the lead runner out at third.

Up next got here Jo Adell, who hit a chopper up the center. Off the bat, it appeared destined to be turned for a double play by second baseman Miguel Rojas.

Before it acquired there, however, Henriquez tried to attain for the ball. It deflected off his glove, then rolled helplessly to the outlet Rojas had just vacated. Everyone reached safely. The bases had been abruptly loaded with one out.

“That’s baseball,” Roberts said. “That’s part of it.”

Henriquez, the hard-throwing prospect who has regarded promising in his return to the majors this yr, struck out Luis Rengifo after that to transfer to the verge of an much-needed escape.

But in a 2-and-2 depend against O’Hoppe, he threw a poorly situated fastball that the Angels catcher was timed up for. A line drive went screaming into middle. The tying and go-ahead runs got here racing across the plate.

“He was dead red and he just timed it up,” Roberts said. “Didn’t want to pitch Edgardo either, with the up-down yesterday. But it’s kind of where we’re at right there.”

Now, the Dodgers discover themselves in a place they never would have anticipated even just a month in the past. Still mired in an prolonged droop. Facing a deficit in a division they’ve led nearly all season. And looking for solutions forward of what might be a defining stretch in the schedule.

“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good to fall into second place and to lose a lot of these games,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “We’re doing everything in our power, having close meetings, doing everything that we can to try to right the ship. We just have to do a better job.”