Prior to embarking on their six-game road trip, the Los Angeles Dodgers slumped their way through a series with the Colorado Rockies to conclude a homestand. Los Angeles dropped two of the three games, scoring a combined five runs on 10 hits.
Their offensive struggles didn’t figure to bode well against the first-place San Francisco Giants, though the Dodgers avoided Madison Bumgarner in the weekend series at AT&T Park. That wound up meaning little, as the Giants lost by one run on Friday but got consecutive one-run victories.
The Dodgers’ inability to find any sort of success reared its ugly head against Jake Peavy, who entered Sunday’s start with a 6.41 ERA this season.
He overcame a sore neck that bothered him for much of the week to throw six scoreless innings. He faced one true jam — runners on first and second with none out in the fifth — but got out of it on an A.J. Ellis double play and Julio Urias fly out.
The Dodgers scratched in the seventh inning behind a Joc Pederson solo home run and trailed only 2-1 headed into the ninth. With Adrian Gonzalez leading off, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had left-handed reliever Javier Lopez start the inning.
Gonzalez curiously attempted to reach on a bunt single, which made for an easy play on Lopez’s first pitch of the inning. After the loss the Dodgers first baseman explained his decision and said he didn’t regret it, per Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:
“I’ve never elevated the ball against Javy Lopez so I’m thinking a home run to tie the game is definitely out of the question. I’ve gotten a few hits against him throughout my career but my numbers against him are not that great. I’ve never had fully comfortable at-bats. If I had it to do all over again, I’d try it. It’s not something I regret.”
Prior to the futile at-bat, Gonzalez was 4-for-18 in his career against Lopez, including 2-for-2 with one double and one walk this season. Lopez walked Gonzalez in the second game of the series. On the season, the 34-year-old first baseman is hitting .255/.345/.333 against lefties.
Gonzalez drove an opposite-field solo home run off Giants reliever Chris Stratton in the 10th inning on Saturday night. Had Kenley Jansen not uncharacteristically given up four consecutive hits, Gonzalez’s homer would have been the difference.
Gonzalez went hitless on Sunday afternoon, and finished the series 3-for-12 with one double, one home run and two RBIs. A three-game set at Chase Field may suit him well as Gonzalez is a career .337/.414/.629 batter in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ home stadium.
