{"id":201377,"date":"2025-09-05T04:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/201377\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T04:31:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:31:19","slug":"dodgers-dominated-by-paul-skenes-as-pirates-complete-sweep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/201377\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers dominated by Paul Skenes as Pirates complete sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PITTSBURGH\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Over three nights in Pittsburgh this week, the Dodgers<\/a> didn\u2019t win a game, despite playing a last-place Pirates club.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t grow their division lead, despite the second-place San Diego Padres<\/a> suffering their own three-game sweep. <\/p>\n

And, as veteran infielder Miguel Rojas<\/a> stressed Thursday night, they simply didn\u2019t look like a team capable of sharing in any joy, despite their constant insistence that better play will materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like ever since we started playing poorly a couple months ago, the pressure and frustration has been building up on the team,\u201d Rojas said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we\u2019re capable of. We\u2019re playing under the threshold, the goal that we have. But at the end of the day, we gotta put all that aside … and we have to find some joy and some motivation to come to the ballpark. Not just, \u2018I gotta do my job.\u2019 We have to come here and enjoy ourselves around the clubhouse, regardless of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation, of course, looks bleak, with Thursday\u2019s 5-3 loss<\/a> to the Pirates sealing a confounding three-game sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating. It\u2019s embarrassing,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cBut we have to be able to turn the page and come tomorrow with a better attitude. … We have to find a way to enjoy the game a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

This loss, granted, was the easiest to explain.<\/p>\n

In six scoreless innings, Cy Young frontrunner Paul Skenes<\/a> was his typically dominant self. Already the major-league ERA leader, the second-year right-hander stuck out eight batters, gave up just two hits, escaped his only real threat by stranding a pair of two-out baserunners in the third inning, and otherwise overpowered the Dodgers with a seven-pitch repertoire headlined by his upper-90s mph sidearm fastball.<\/p>\n

His counterpart, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell<\/a>, was nowhere near top form, giving up five runs in five innings despite largely limiting much hard contact.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers (78-62) did finally show some life offensively in the top of the ninth, scoring three times (their first runs since the eighth inning of Tuesday\u2019s game) and putting the tying run on base. But by then, it was too little, too late \u2014 with the game ending on a three-pitch strikeout by newly called-up catcher Ben Rortvedt<\/a>, the latest hair-pulling moment in a season of deflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just not playing good baseball, that\u2019s really it,\u201d Snell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure that out. That\u2019s on us to do that. We\u2019ve got to get it going. It\u2019s crunch time right now. Can\u2019t really have excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pirates <\/p>\n

Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes delivers against the Dodgers on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Justin Berl \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Dodgers lead the NL West<\/a> by only two games \u2014 having missed a chance to create distance in the standings after the Padres unexpectedly dropped three straight against the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

They also trail the Philadelphia Phillies by three games for a top-two seed in the NL playoff picture<\/a>, placing themselves in danger of facing a three-game wild-card series rather than a first-round bye.<\/p>\n

With 22 games remaining, the Dodgers would have to be perfect the rest of the way to reach the 100-win mark. At this point, even 90 victories feels far from a certainty, given the team\u2019s 4-12 record in their last 16 against teams with losing records. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say it\u2019s uncharacteristic, but I think we\u2019ve done that a lot,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> acknowledged afterward. <\/p>\n

And when facing the current best pitcher in the sport, they certainly never seemed poised to change that trend.<\/p>\n

Skenes set the tone immediately on what had been a rainy evening in Pittsburgh. Shohei Ohtani<\/a> struck out on a 99-mph heater in the game\u2019s first at-bat. The next seven Dodgers who came to the plate all recorded outs, flailing at Skenes\u2019 mix of four-seamers, sweepers, curveballs and changeups to allow him to quickly find a comfortable rhythm.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Dalton Rushing<\/a> \u2014 who started in place of an injured Will Smith<\/a>, as the team\u2019s starting catcher awaited results on a CT scan for a bruised hand he suffered the night before \u2014 hit a third-inning fastball high off the center-field wall for a double that gave the Dodgers their first baserunner. But, after an Ohtani walk, Mookie Betts<\/a> grounded out to retire that threat.<\/p>\n

From there, the only other damage Skenes allowed was a fifth-inning single from Rojas. And though the Dodgers\u2019 ability to at least foul off two-strike pitches \u2014 they fought off 15 in all \u2014 at least got him out of the game after six innings, it was already too late to mount a comeback.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, unlike the Dodgers, the last-place Pirates (64-77) actually managed to build rallies against another of the game\u2019s other top pitchers.<\/p>\n

Snell\u2019s outing was a grind from the start, with Rushing misfiring to first base for an error in the first inning and Betts reacting slowly to a ground ball at shortstop to extend the second.<\/p>\n

Snell worked around those jams. In the third, however, he followed a leadoff single by Bryan Reynolds with a pair of wild pitches that got by Rushing. With Reynolds suddenly on third, and the Dodgers\u2019 infield forced to play in, Tommy Pham slapped a single through the dirt for the night\u2019s opening run.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the second inning Thursday against the Pirates.<\/p>\n

(Justin Berl \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Two innings later, the Pirates broke it open.<\/p>\n

In the fifth, Snell gave up three consecutive singles that doubled Pittsburgh\u2019s lead. Then, after an intentional one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen, Nick Yorke went after a first-pitch curveball for a two-run double down the line. McCutchen later scored from third on a grounder. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like today there was some seeing-eye single, balls finding the outfield grass,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI thought he was good, not great. But again, a little bit unlucky. When you\u2019re facing Paul Skenes, you just can\u2019t afford to give up runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all that wasn\u2019t enough, the game ended with another regrettable sequence in the ninth. Betts broke up the shutout with a leadoff home run. Singles from Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, Michael Conforto, Andy Pages and Rojas brought around two more runs with the Dodgers down to their last out.<\/p>\n

Then, however, Rortvedt came up as their ill-fated final hope. <\/p>\n

A career minor-leaguer whom the Dodgers acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays at the trade deadline, then called up Thursday after Smith took a foul ball off his hand the night before, Rortvedt struck out after having replaced Rushing an inning earlier. <\/p>\n

As Roberts explained postgame, he was trying to get Rushing (a rookie who has been a backup this season, but will likely start the next three games as Smith recovers from his bruised hand) off his feet. Given the way the game had gone, he wasn\u2019t expecting Rushing\u2019s spot in the order (which was due up eighth in the ninth inning) to come back up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, in a separate world, I would\u2019ve loved to have had Dalton up there,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut when you have three hits through eight [innings] and you\u2019re down 5-0, just kind of trying to figure out how to preserve him for the next few days, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it goes for the Dodgers right now. Their inconsistent lineup continues to scuffle. Their supposed strength of a rotation hasn\u2019t been able to dominate. And, with their record an incomprehensible 22-30 since July 4, there remains no end in sight to their second-half slide \u2014 nor visible signs of anything other than frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like, as an offense, we\u2019re putting a little bit too much pressure on ourselves, because we feel the necessity of winning. And we\u2019re really forgetting about the most important part, which is playing for each other and having some joy when we play this game,\u201d Rojas said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know, when you\u2019re losing baseball games it\u2019s not that fun. But I feel like we have to find a way to put everything in perspective. We\u2019re still in first place. We\u2019re still two games ahead of the Padres. We should be able to have some fun while we\u2019re playing the game, and kind of relax a little bit more. Because I think when this team is together like that, we\u2019re really hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

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