Spot starter Justin Wrobleski gives up eight runs in the first four innings and the Dodgers never make a game of it in an 8-2 defeat on a cold and windy night in Washington.
Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night in Washington. WASHINGTON — A local TV weatherman introduced his forecast for the Washington D.
C. area on Monday night by warning, “It’s going to feel like February tomorrow.”Instead, the Dodgers took the field at Nationals Park with temperatures in the 40s and strong winds that made it feel even less like the Cactus League. It was the meteorological nadir of a trip that has followed cold and rain in Philadelphia with even lower temperatures in Washington – and there’s one more game to go before returning to 80-degree rebirth in California. The Dodgers have felt the chill in their bones and the quality of their play has dropped with the temperatures. Hailed as a super team that might never lose when they left the sun behind in Los Angeles, they have not handled climate change well, losing for the fourth time in the first five games of this East Coast trip on Tuesday night, 8-2, to the Washington Nationals. By taking the first two games, the Nationals are guaranteed their first regular-season series victory over the Dodgers at Nationals Park since May 2014 – when it was warmer. “We’re not used to playing in the cold. But it cannot be an excuse for us to perform different,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “But they’re hitting the ball pretty good, getting on base, scoring runs. We’re just not putting together good at-bats. We’re not getting on base and everything is not going the way we want. That’s the game. We just need to bounce back tomorrow.”“I have a hard time kind of conceding that one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of blaming the weather for his team’s slump. “The cold front came in, the weather came in, in the Northeast, for both clubs. … So they had to deal with the same conditions.It might not play favorites. But East Coast teams get more exposure to the elements. “As a player it’s a little hard,” said Hernandez, who spent six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays playing early-season games in the American League East cities. “I was six years on this side , where it’s cold early in the season. Then when I get to L.A. last year it was my first year playing those early games with no cold weather. It’s a big difference. Especially when you’re not used to it, it can make a big difference.”Wrobleski gave up a two-run home run to Nationals DH James Wood in the first inning. Wood did it again in the fourth, following the 111.2 mph missile to center field with a 106.6 mph drive into the right field seats. In between, the Nationals had a three-run second inning when Wrobleski walked three consecutive batters, forcing in a run, and also gave up a two-run single to former Dodgers prospect Keibert Ruiz. “For whatever reason today, the stuff just didn’t feel great,” Wrobleski said. “Command wasn’t where it should be. It’s frustrating to have that kind of result when I’ve been throwing the ball so good. You just have to take the positives – if there are any – and keep moving.” Wrobleski got his first taste of the big leagues last season and made six starts for the Dodgers as their starting rotation disintegrated in the second half. One of those starts was a similar bruising – 10 runs at Arizona when he was left out to absorb it for 5⅓ innings. “It’s tough,” he said. “Obviously you don’t want to go through it. But obviously there’s some things that I need to clean up. Need to go back, go through it, talk to some coaches, talk to some people and really nail down what I need to do to get better and make the jump I know I can make.” With Blake Snell on the injured list and Tony Gonsolin not ready to return quite yet, the Dodgers will need at least one more spot start from someone next week. Wrobleski didn’t make a very good case against the Nationals. “I just come up here and try to do my job,” he said. “Whenever they give me the ball just continue to try to get better each outing. Get through this one. This one’s tough. It hurts. It sucks. When you’re a competitor you don’t want this to happen. But at the end of the day it’s just about doing your job when you’re called upon and today I didn’t do a good job of that. “You’ve just always got to stay ready. I felt I did a good job of that but unfortunately came up today and had a tough outing. That’s baseball. That sucks. You don’t want it to happen but I clearly need to get better. I’m going to keep going and keep grinding like I have been and know that eventually the hard work is going to show.” The Dodgers were down 8-0 by the end of the fourth inning and never warmed to the task of fighting back. Roberts began pulling his starters in the fifth inning, sending first Mookie Betts then later Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman mercifully to the warmth of the clubhouse. The Dodgers had just two hits through the first four innings and were on their way to striking out 15 times in the game. Back in the lineup after a one-day respite prompted by his frequent baserunning and defensive mistakes, Andy Pages led off the fifth inning with a solo home run. “Offensively, certainly you don’t feel good about striking out 15 times in a game,” Roberts said. “Just kind of up and down the lineup, the at-bat quality – we’re just not having team at-bats. I think sporadically Pages took some good at-bats today. But I think just kind of in totality, the at-bats collectively haven’t been team at-bats, and the results are showing.” Their only other offensive highlight was a solo home run by Kiké Hernandez in the eighth inning. By then, the two teams were playing in hockey weather .Youth soccer coach charged in killing of Sun Valley Magnet School studentClassic diner cooking is a delight at this Canoga Park restaurantMinivan crashes into Downtown LA crowd, injuring 9, including 3 boys Gabriel Fernandez, 8, was tortured to death. His mother didn’t like her life sentence. This is what a judge had to say. Gabriel Fernandez, 8, was tortured to death. His mother didn’t like her life sentence. This is what a judge had to say.Shake Shack is serving a Dubai Chocolate Shake; find out where
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