The Los Angeles Dodgers committed four errors — albeit two were particularly critical rulings — in an 8-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals, which was their first defeat in the past five games.
Julio Urias needed to be removed with two outs in the first inning, as he had already thrown 29 pitches and was poised to benefit from the re-entry rule now in effect for pitchers. He returned in the second inning and surrendered a solo home run en route to reaching the third.
Victor Gonzalez, Jimmy Nelson, Kenley Jansen and Blake Treinen combined for 5.1 scoreless innings before the Royals pushed across two runs (one earned) against Garrett Cleavinger in the ninth.
“I thought the pitching, the line score doesn’t tell the whole story,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the loss. “I thought our pitchers came out with good stuff. I thought all of them did. We got Julio built up with his pitch count. That first inning got sort of long but at the end of the day we got him up and down three times, got him up to 40-something pitches.
“I thought Kenley came out and threw the ball well, Treinen, Jimmy Nelson threw two innings really well. Corey continued to stay hot. We’re taking good at-bats. I thought overall the score wasn’t indicative of how we played. I thought we played pretty well.”
When Roberts went to the mound in the first inning there was a brief discussion with Urias before he handed the ball over. ‘He just didn’t understand. He threw 26 pitches his last outing and he was up to 30 pitches in that first inning,” Roberts explained.
“For us to have a chance of him going back out there for the second and potentially third inning, I wanted to do the re-entry rule. Obviously he’s in there competing and wanted to stay in there. I don’t think he understood what was going on later.”
For Nelson, the relief appearance was his first of the spring and third overall game. He continues to impress and could wind up filling a swing role come the regular season.
Seager continues torrid pace
As Roberts mentioned, Corey Seager was one of the highlights from the loss. His home run in the first inning marked a fourth time in the past five games he’s gone deep.
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