Dodgers Struggles Continue, Fall to Nationals 8-3

As if things couldn't get any worse.

Twenty-four hours after the Dodgers were done in by a nine-run seventh inning in Pittsburgh, The Washington Nationals dismantled Los Angeles 8-3 on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers have now dropped four straight, the first time that has happened all season. In fact, the last time LA lost four straight games was Sept. 13-16, 2013.

Prior to tonight, the Dodgers had been the only remaining team in the Majors not to suffer a losing streak of more than three games.

To add insult to injury (no pun intend), the Dodgers will be without starting second baseman, Howie Kendrick for the foreseeable future with a left hamstring injury.

Kendrick has been sensational this season for LA after being acquired from the Angels in the offseason. Kendrick has scored a run for the Dodgers in nine of the team's previous 10 games and was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the game after suffering a left hamstring injury on Sunday trying to run out an infield hit.

The Dodgers have now dropped five of seven overall as their lead in the National League West shrunk to 2.5 games over the idle San Francisco Giants.

Brett Anderson had a rough outing as the lefty allowed as season-high seven runs on 10 hits in just five short innings. It was Anderson's first time not making a quality start for the Dodgers since June 10th against Arizona.

It was Anderson's first career start against Washington and the wheels fell off for the wagon in the sixth inning when the southpaw allowed the first seven batters to reach base before recording an out. The Nationals would finish the inning with five runs overall.

"I wasn't able to make some pitches there in the sixth to get it out of it," Anderson said of the nightmare inning. "Everything snowballed and Gio had a really good outing. I just have to put this one behind me and try and do better next time."

Gio Gonzalez was excellent for the Nationals throwing eight scoreless innings with six strikeouts while scattering just seven hits in his longest start of the season.

"Everyone in the lineup was on the ball today, everyone was on their toes," Gonzalez said of the game. "It helps when you have eight runs behind you."

Gonzalez (9-4) is unbeaten in his last eight starts dating back to June 21. The lefthander is 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA over that span.

Ian Desmond hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a solo shot in the eighth as an encore. It was only Desmond's second multi-homer game of his career as the shortstop finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, three runs scored to lead the Nationals.

"I saw a curveball out over the plate and hit it," Desmond said. "I feel good. It's nice to get some wins."

Ryan Zimmerman went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI and has now knocked in one run or more in Washington's last eight games.

"We've played a lot of tight games," Zimmerman said. "So to score some runs and get a little energy on the offensive side is good."

The Dodgers arrived in Los Angeles last night at 3:00AM PST, and had a quick turnaround before returning to the ballpark. With much needed rest on the mind of manager Don Mattingly, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal, Joc Pederson, and Andre Ethier all had the day off.

"Not to put a handicap on their loss, but they had a rough night last night," Desmond said of the Dodgers. "They got in late and didn't get a lot of sleep."

Dodgers recalled second baseman Jose Peraza before the game and started him at second base in his major league debut. Peraza was acquired from the Atlanta Braves on July 30th as part of an eight-player trade.

Peraza reached base twice and recorded his first major league hit when he tripled to right field in the bottom of the third inning. According to Baseball Reference, Peraza is just the third Dodger to triple for his first big league hit joining Doug Rau and Gary Moore as the only others to do it.

"At first I thought Harper was going to catch that ball, but when he didn't, I just kept running and running," Peraza said of his triple. "I was very happy that was my first hit."

Carl Crawford hit his first pinch-hit home run of his career in the bottom of the ninth off Doug Fister. Crawford's three-run blast were the only runs scored by the Dodgers on the night and was LA's sixth pinch-hit homer this season.

Game Notes:
LA Galaxy and Mexican National team star, Giovani Dos Santos, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.