Despite a six-run outburst on Monday, the Dodgers offense has struggled this homestand, and much did not change on Tuesday in their 3-2 loss to the Cubs. NL MVP candidate Clayton Kershaw did not have a very Kershaw-esque outing, but the silent offense left him hanging for the loss.
It is a familiar position for Kershaw -- losing a game due to lack of run support -- but it is his own fault for letting that one earned run score anyways, right? It was not a regular dominant performance from the Dodger ace, lasting just 5.2 innings and giving up seven hits and three walks, but he did have nine strikeouts.
In the third, he gave up a lead-off single to the opposing pitcher, Travis Wood. With one out, Darwin Barney reached base on catcher interference, advancing Wood to second. Ex-Dodger Dioner Navarro brought Wood home on a single to center field, but the run was not charged to Kershaw.
The one earned run he allowed came in the sixth inning, when he gave up a two-out RBI single to Starlin Castro with Cody Ransom and Darnell McDonald on base. The inning started off with Ransom lining a ball off of Kerhaw's leg for a single. Kershaw appears okay and says he has no pain in the leg.
The Cubs got a runner on base in five of the six innings Kershaw appeared in, and his pitch count soared early in the game. He left the game at 107 pitches.
Travis Wood held the Dodgers to five hits and one run over seven innings. Hanley Ramirez had a big night, going 3-4 and scoring the Dodgers only runs. He was brought home in the sixth inning on a Juan Uribe single, and scored again in the eighth on an Andre Ethier single.
The Dodgers had a chance to tie the game in the eighth inning. After Ethier's RBI single they had two runners on, but Skip Schumaker grounded into an inning-ending double play, as a pinch-hitter, to crush the rally.
With two outs in the ninth, Carl Crawford provided one last glimmer of comeback-hope with a single. Yasiel Puig came up in a big moment with the chance to tie the score, but popped straight up to end the game.
Brian Wilson, Ronald Belisario, Carlos Marmol, and Paco Rodgriguez appeared out of the bullpen. The Cubs scored an insurance run in the seventh inning on a double play ball after Belisario loaded the bases on back-to-back singles, and a hit-by-pitch.
On the homestand the Dodgers are hitting 0.181 with 13 runs and 28 runners left-on-base in five games. After losing three of their last four games, they send Ricky Nolasco to the mound against ex-Dodger Edwin Jackson on Wednesday in the series rubber-match.
