LOS ANGELES -- As the Dodgers try to win their 11th National League West title in 12 seasons, the next seven games could determine exactly what Los Angeles will need to accomplish down the stretch as they pursue that goal.
Going up against the Orioles and D-backs, two teams that also have World Series aspirations, will serve as a test for the Dodgers this week. From here on out, the Dodgers know they’ll have to play with postseason-like intensity to hold off Arizona and San Diego atop the division.
That intensity was on full display on Tuesday, but the Dodgers fell just short, dropping the series opener to the Orioles, 3-2, at Dodger Stadium.
“It was just a good ballgame,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We ended up losing, but I thought our guys in the bullpen did a fine job. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
With a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Dodgers’ starting rotation over the last couple of weeks, it’s been Jack Flaherty who has been one of the most reliable pitchers on the roster since being acquired from the Tigers on July 30.
The right-hander, who will certainly be in the mix to start one of the Dodgers’ first two postseason games, was on for most of the night against his former team. However, in the fifth, Flaherty left a slider at the bottom of the zone against Ramón Urías, who pummeled it into the left-field bleachers to give the Orioles the lead.
In the end, that one mistake was all it took for Los Angeles to lose the game.
“Overall, just two pitches that I’d really like back that they put good swings on that they should,” Flaherty said. “Just continuing to find ways to get out and gotta get deeper.”
Immediately after the Urías homer, Flaherty was hit on his right wrist on a Colton Cowser comebacker. After getting checked out for a few minutes and throwing a couple of warmup pitches, Flaherty assured the Dodgers that he was healthy enough to continue. No additional testing will be required for Flaherty.
“It’s good,” Flaherty said. “Everything checks out pretty good. We’ll see how it is tomorrow, but I think I got through it.”
On the other hand, the Dodgers’ offense struggled to get much going outside of a couple early rallies against left-hander Cole Irvin. Miguel Rojas put the Dodgers on the board with a sacrifice fly in the second and Teoscar Hernández added an RBI single in the third.
Against the Orioles’ bullpen, however, the Dodgers failed to get anything across. They were held scoreless by four relievers, with their best chance coming in the fifth with two on and nobody out for the top of the order.
Shohei Ohtani popped up to the third baseman, Mookie Betts flied out to right field and Hernández lined to right to end the threat. The Dodgers were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, including leaving the tying run stranded in the bottom of the ninth.
“They’re a pretty good team,” Hernández said. “They throw hard. They hit their spots. That’s when pitchers get harder. We had some opportunities, but we didn’t come through with enough good at-bats or hits in those situations.”
Those are the situations the Dodgers will be facing for the rest of the regular season and into October. The road to a division title and a top-three seed in the NL postseason won’t come as easily as it appeared it would just two months ago.
The Dodgers believe this will better prepare them for when it matters most. But they’ll still need to rack up wins in what could be a crucial week for the club.
“We’re not thinking about the future,” Hernández said. “We’re just going to think about every game, not getting ahead of things. Like I said, we’re just going to think game by game and try to win.”
