Dodgers’ Struggles Continue in Frustrating Loss to Arizona

The Dodgers season-long struggles continued on Tuesday night as the Dodgers lost one of their most frustrating games of the season to fall to 15-20.

The Dodgers came very close to breaking through against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night but they instead ended up losing in frustrating fashion.  Kiké Hernandez tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings.  It felt like the Dodgers were about to rekindle their magic of last season but instead, it turned to misery.

The Dodgers had the winning run on third base in the tenth and eleventh innings but were unable to get the winning run in.  Matt Kemp came within a few feet of winning the game in the tenth inning but his fly ball was caught right against the wall by AJ Pollock.  The Dodgers offense was set up perfectly to start a potential winning streak but instead, they faltered and showed why they are now five games under 500.

The game quickly got out of hand in the twelfth inning as Dodger killer Daniel Descalso hit a three-run home run to put the game out of reach.  Even more frustrating was the fact that Yimi Garcia had two strikes on Descalso and was one strike away from getting out of the inning tied but instead he gave up a three-run bomb to Descalso.

More from LA Dodgers News

• Tyler Anderson’s response to leaving Dodgers for Angels is quite bizarre
• 3 right-handed sluggers Dodgers can sign to replace Justin Turner
• This Tony Gonsolin trade could get Dodgers necessary rotation upgrade
• Dodgers may already have the next Cody Bellinger to replace him
• 3 high-profile trade targets Dodgers need to revisit this offseason

Ultimately the Dodgers showed everything they’ve done wrong this season in one game.  Rich Hill had a rough start allowing five runs in four innings.  The offense struggled with runners in scoring position, especially in extra innings.  Then the bullpen faltered late as they have for the majority of this season.  Add the players not playing this game due to injury and it was the perfect microcosm of this year’s Dodger team.

While there are still 127 games left this season, the Dodgers already find themselves nine games back of the NL West-leading Diamondbacks and 5 1/2 games back of the second wild-card spot.  While the Diamondbacks have started hot in the past and faltered, this year’s team looks like they are legit and going to battle the Dodgers til the very end of the season.  It won’t get any easier on Wednesday as the Dodgers have to face Patrick Corbin who has been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball this season.

Next: Does Verdugo have more value as trade bait?

Sure there are still a ton of games left, but if the Dodgers continue to struggle they will just be playing out meaningless games at the end of the season.  The Dodgers are good enough to still contend with some of their bigger names out but they have underperformed and now find themselves in a hole.  Hopefully, Wednesday is the day that the Dodgers turn their season around and start a win streak.