{"id":59117,"date":"2025-07-12T08:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T08:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/59117\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T08:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T08:24:13","slug":"dustin-may-struggles-as-giants-send-dodgers-to-a-seventh-consecutive-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/59117\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin May struggles as Giants send Dodgers to a seventh consecutive loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers<\/a> finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Too bad it didn\u2019t happen until they were already down six runs.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a week, the highest-scoring offense in baseball finally rediscovered its high-flying form, handing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb<\/a> his worst start all season while sending shivers up the spine of the orange-clad contingent at Oracle Park.<\/p>\n

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Read more:<\/b> Shaikin: Dodger Stadium gondola closer to reality? Sacramento might help Team McCourt<\/a><\/p>\n

But by the time it happened, the club had already dug a hole too deep for even its star-studded lineup to climb out of, unable to completely erase an early six-run deficit in a 8-7 loss<\/a> to their division rivals \u2014 sending the Dodgers to a seven-game losing streak that marks their longest skid since September 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the fight. I thought one through nine, there were good at-bats in there, scored some runs, had a chance to win again,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cAnd unfortunately, on the pitching side, we just couldn’t prevent enough.”<\/p>\n

Friday, of course, never figured to favor the Dodgers given the difference in caliber of the starting pitching matchup.<\/p>\n

On one side stood Webb, the crafty and relentless All-Star right-hander who has largely dominated the Dodgers in his seven-year career.<\/p>\n

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On the other was Dustin May<\/a>, the once-promising Dodgers right-hander who has yet to realize his tantalizing potential in what has been his first fully healthy big-league season so far.<\/p>\n

Still, for a little while on a cold night along the San Francisco Bay, little separated the two sinker-ball specialists, the Dodgers and Giants locked in the kind of close contest that has been the hallmark of this rivalry in recent years.<\/p>\n

In the top of the third, Shohei Ohtani<\/a> even put the Dodgers in front, splashing his NL-leading 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond right field for only the eighth splash-down home run by a Dodger player in Oracle Park history.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers<\/p>\n

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Giants on Friday. (David Barreda \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

But eventually, May came unglued, giving up seven runs in less than five innings as the Giants surged to an 8-2 lead. And though the Dodgers (56-39) eventually got to within one, tagging Webb with a season-high six runs, they came up empty in their final couple trips to the plate, wasting plenty of positive subplots in another losing story.<\/p>\n

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\u201cToday we were able to string some hits together, put some innings together,\u201d shortstop Mookie Betts<\/a> said. \u201cBut we just come up short.”<\/p>\n

After starting his night with increased fastball velocity and ruthless assault of the strike zone, May lost his command in the fourth inning.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers<\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants on Friday. (David Barreda \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Rafael Devers<\/a> walked on four pitches to start the inning. Matt Chapman received another free pass despite a mid-at-bat mound visit from catcher Will Smith. And with one out, Jung Hoo Lee laced a two-run triple over the outstretched glove of Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, who returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a foot contusion but still seemed hobbled while trying to track the ball down in the right-field gap.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust got a little bit out of sync, couldn\u2019t time things back up,\u201d May said of his delivery, which has teetered between flashes of dominance and stretches of frustration during his return from a second career elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my warm-up throws in the fourth, it felt a little off. Trying to get my foot down a little earlier didn\u2019t really help. That\u2019s been a cue. But yeah, it just went bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things got worse in the fifth, when the Giants (52-43) plated five more while sending 10 batters to the plate.<\/p>\n

Dominic Smith led the inning off with a homer. May then gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. The Dodgers missed their chance to escape the inning, when Hyeseong Kim<\/a> failed to turn a difficult but potential inning-ending double play quickly enough at second base.<\/p>\n

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May was replaced by Anthony Banda, who was greeted with another two-run triple by Willy Adames (who had already homered to open the scoring in the second inning) and a run-scoring infield single from Lee, who outraced Banda to first base to punctuate a painfully long inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo win a big-league ballgame is tough, but you\u2019ve still got to pitch well, you\u2019ve got to catch it and you\u2019ve got to take good at-bats,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIf all three of those things don\u2019t line up in one night, it\u2019s hard to get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mookie<\/p>\n

Mookie Betts grimaces in pain after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Giants on Friday night. (David Barreda \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

It was at that point, coming off a six-game stretch in which they\u2019d scored 10 total runs, that the Dodgers\u2019 bats finally came to life.<\/p>\n

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In the top of the sixth, Hern\u00e1ndez launched a two-run double that Lee couldn\u2019t quite corral on the run at the warning track, before Michael Conforto followed with a two-run homer that chased Webb and cut the deficit to two.<\/p>\n

In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Betts slid into third after hitting another ball just beyond Lee\u2019s reach in center and later scored on Smith\u2019s RBI single.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s definitely more encouraging,\u201d said Betts, who has been among the coldest hitters in the Dodgers lineup lately. \u201cI can’t speak for everyone. But I haven’t done anything this whole time \u2026 Just to get us going, get some hits there, that’s the positive that you can take out of it.”<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/b> Shohei Ohtani has top-selling MLB jersey so far this season. Two other Dodgers rank in top four<\/a><\/p>\n

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That, however, was as close as the Dodgers got. Smith was left stranded to end the seventh. Kim\u2019s two-out double in the eighth was squandered. And, in the most frustrating of endings, a two-on, one-out opportunity in the ninth went by the wayside when Smith rolled into a double play.<\/p>\n

The division lead is down to four.<\/p>\n

And as the Dodgers continue to stumble toward the All-Star break, moral victories remain the only wins in sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it sucks, but you have to try to take some positive out of it,\u201d Betts said. \u201cAt least we battled back.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night. Too bad it didn\u2019t happen until they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[35125,875,42932,2442,42934,6594,42933,32077,42935,20411,2444,42936,27349,1266,2749,41383,2596,1275,4712,62,5957,22888,67,132,68,5956,42937],"class_list":{"0":"post-59117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-anthony-banda","9":"tag-dave-roberts","10":"tag-david-barreda","11":"tag-dodgers","12":"tag-dominic-smith","13":"tag-dustin-may","14":"tag-fifth-inning","15":"tag-hyeseong-kim","16":"tag-jung-hoo-lee","17":"tag-logan-webb","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-matt-chapman","20":"tag-michael-conforto","21":"tag-mlb","22":"tag-mookie-betts","23":"tag-oracle-park","24":"tag-rafael-devers","25":"tag-san-francisco-giants","26":"tag-shohei-ohtani","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-teoscar-hernandez","29":"tag-the-dodgers","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-will-smith","34":"tag-willy-adames"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114839307093520685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}