Dodgers 1 Nationals 8: Everything Is Awful

The Dodgers were firing on no cylinders as they dropped game two in Washington.

The Dodgers needed a deep outing out of Bud Norris. Long man Chris Hatcher hit the DL before the game and Julio Urias will start tomorrow’s game. With a seven-man bullpen, they needed Norris to eat up some innings today.

It started well enough as Norris got two quick outs. Daniel Murphy poked a two-out double to left, and then Bryce Harper hit a baseball a very long way.

That’s not even an optimal launch angle. There is no way that baseball only went 451 feet.

Norris gave up two more two-out hits, but got out of the inning with a strikeout after a 27-pitch first inning.

The Dodgers responded with a run in the second, after Scott Van Slyke made things happen. A one-out infield single put him on, and he stole second and took third on a wide throw. Yasiel Puig struck out, Yasmani Grandal walked and Charlie Culberson made his return by shooting an RBI single to right.

Norris turned it around and cruised until the fifth. He got two quick outs, but his 71st pitch was hit out by Ben Revere to give the Nats a 3-1 lead. Five pitches later, Jayson Werth hit a bomb to make it 4-1. Norris had given up one homer in his time as a Dodger, but gave up three today.

Norris started the sixth, but gave up a walk and a ball that missed being a homer by like two inches to make it 5-1. He probably should have worn this one, but he was pulled after that double. He got through five which is impressive considering how bad his first inning was, but giving up six runs in five innings won’t get the job done on most nights.

Louis Coleman took over for Norris and gave up a triple to Trea Turner. After hitting Danny Espinosa with a pitch, Luis Avilan took over with runners on the corners. Avilan had Espinosa picked off, but Espinosa stayed alive in a pickle long enough to allow Turner to steal home. Espinosa took second on the throw home, but was left there. Anthony Rendon added a solo shot in the eighth off J.P. Howell, but by that point the game was already well out of hand.

To make matters worse, the Dodgers offense was pretty much shut down by Gio Gonzalez, who is far from the Gonzalez that finished third in the 2012 Cy Young race. Gonzalez was pulled for a pinch hitter in the sixth. In his six innings of work, the Dodgers got three hits and two walks against him. Gonzalez allowed fewer than two runs for the first time since May 18th, so while the pitching should never give up seven runs, it’s hard to win when the offense gets shut down by a guy that isn’t quite an ace.

In all, not a lot of positives to take away from this game. Howie Kendrick extended his hitting streak to 12 games, which was probably the best part of this game. It was pretty much all bad.

In semi-bright scoreboard-watching news, the Red Sox are beating the Giants behind three homers by Hanley Ramirez. They were up 8-0 and that quickly became 8-7, but the Giants trail 10-7 at the moment of publishing. I hate scoreboard watching, but after a day full of bad baseball news and an awful game, the Dodgers could be in the exact same position as they were in four hours ago.

Next: Trade Target: Will Smith?

The Dodgers look to win the series tomorrow, with a 9:05 AM getaway game. Stephen Strasburg gets the ball for the Nats against Urias.