Glasnow's solid start for naught as Dodgers puzzled by D-backs again

LOS ANGELES -- When it came to creating opportunities, the Dodgers' offense was first out of the gate. But on Saturday night, slow and steady won the race.

Tyler Glasnow took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and gave up three runs across seven innings, but the Dodgers' offense scuffled for the second straight night in a sloppy 6-1 loss to the D-backs at Dodger Stadium. After dropping the first two games against Arizona, Los Angeles' lead in the NL West is down to one game.

"Those guys earned the win. But I can also say, in some parts, we gave it away. We beat ourselves," manager Dave Roberts said. "This is a tough one. I just really can't excuse it or rationalize it."

The first six innings were a tale of dominance on the mound, but missed opportunities at the plate. Glasnow allowed just a pair of baserunners in that span, hitting Ketel Marte in the fourth and giving up an infield single to Ildemaro Vargas in the sixth.

D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez wasn't nearly as dominant, allowing four hits and four walks over six innings, but the Dodgers went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Two of their biggest missed opportunities were because of miscues on the basepaths.

The first came with one out in the fourth and Freddie Freeman on second after hitting his 543rd career double, tying Tony Gwynn for 36th on the all-time list. He took off on contact when Andy Pages grounded a ball to the left side of the infield -- right at third baseman Blaze Alexander, who was in Freeman's path. Freeman ran into the tag, and the inning was over shortly thereafter.

The second came one inning later, when Kiké Hernández tried to score standing up on what could have been a sacrifice fly from Shohei Ohtani. But a strong throw from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. cut down Hernández before he touched the plate, a call that stood after a review.

While Gurriel was throwing the ball in, Mookie Betts ran over from the on-deck circle and, from behind catcher Gabriel Moreno, signaled that Hernández should slide. But Hernández didn't see him.

"Ideally, you gotta be in a better lane for the runner to see you," Roberts said, "and he just didn't get there in time."

Once the D-backs were able to string together at-bats, they took advantage. Corbin Carroll led off the seventh with a homer off Glasnow. The inning snowballed from there, with Glasnow giving up a pair of doubles to Gurriel and Alexander. Both ended up scoring on a Moreno sac fly after Pages misfired the throw in from center field.

"All my pitches were working early," said Glasnow, who dealt with a bloody thumb early in his outing after his nail clipped it while throwing a fastball. "That last inning, I just left too many hittable pitches. Nothing was really sharp, and they took advantage of it."

Hernández's out at the plate on the sac fly was not the only opportunity the Dodgers failed to cash in on during the first six innings, but they felt that taking the lead at that point could have helped things end differently.

"I feel like that play [on the sac fly] could have changed the momentum of the game. It didn’t go our way," Hernández said. "We’ve come out pretty flat the last two games after the day off. We can’t keep doing this. We have to be more consistent."

It was all too reminiscent of the Dodgers' first two games in San Diego last weekend, when they combined to score two runs on five hits. Coming out of those losses, they were able to win the finale against the Padres and sweep the Reds in three games.

Roberts has not seen that same urgency carry into this series against the D-backs, who are a game under .500 and a non-factor in the division. Over the past month, the Dodgers have played some of their better baseball against contending teams, but they've gotten messy against others.

With the Dodgers fighting to stay on top in the division, Roberts would like to see his team approach every game with urgency in this final month.

"I don't like the playing to your competition-type thing, but we're not getting up for teams that we should be. We should be getting up for everyone, regardless of record," he said. "So, yeah, I don't have an answer to that. No excuse for that."