LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers began their three-game series with the third-best record in the National League. They ended it with the third-best record in their own division.
In between, they suffered an embarrassing three-game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants. Sunday’s 7-3 loss before an announced crowd of 52,307 at Dodger Stadium marked a new low on a few fronts.
The Dodgers (39-33) have fallen from first place to third in the National League West in the span of two weeks. Their 4½-game deficit on the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks (43-28) is their largest of the season.
The Giants (39-32) secured their first sweep at Dodger Stadium in a series of three or more games since Aug. 20-22, 2012.
Friday’s 11-inning loss was a close game. The Dodgers’ 15-0 loss Saturday was not. Sunday’s game was the worst start of Tony Gonsolin’s career.
The right-hander was granted six days of rest between his two previous starts because of a vague soreness he felt after pitching against the Cincinnati Reds on June 6. It helped. Gonsolin threw six shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Manager Dave Roberts said Gonsolin was not “out of the woods” after experiencing similar soreness following that game. Because their bullpen had thrown more than 14 innings over the previous three games, a bullpen game was not an option Sunday. And rather than recall a pitcher from the minor leagues and start Gonsolin on Tuesday in Anaheim, the Dodgers trusted the ball to Gonsolin on regular rest Sunday.
For three innings, that looked like the wise choice. Despite subpar velocity ― his fastball was sitting 90-91 mph in the first inning, less than his season average of 92.3 ― Gonsolin held the Giants without a hit until the fourth inning. Quickly, a sacrifice fly by Thairo Estrada and an RBI single by Mike Yastrzemski put the Dodgers in a 2-0 hole.
In the bottom of the fourth, David Peralta walked, went to second base on a JD Martinez single,…
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