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Dodgers’ slump continues with fourth consecutive loss

May 3, 2026

ST. LOUIS — At least for once, Roki Sasaki was not the most perplexing thing about one of his starts.

That designation belongs to a slumping offense that found a new low, hitting into more double plays than base hits through the first six innings and being shut out for eight innings of a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday night.

The Dodgers have now managed just 38 runs over their past 11 games while batting .215 (79 for 368) as a team. Saturday was the sixth time in the 11 games they have been held to two runs or fewer.

“It’s what every team is going to go through in baseball throughout the course of a season,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I felt tonight, although it didn’t show for the first eight innings, I thought the intentions were better on balls in the hitting zone. Yes, we hit into some double plays tonight but I thought we took some good walks and obviously in the ninth inning I thought we put together some good at-bats. I just think we need to be aggressive and take what the pitcher gives you.

“But every team goes through this through the course of the season.”

It seems to be getting deeper. During their current four-game losing streak, the Dodgers have scored a total of seven runs. They haven’t hit a home run since Shohei Ohtani’s solo homer in the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs last Sunday and are 6 for 30 with runners in scoring position during the losing streak (2 for 12 in St. Louis).

It wouldn’t have taken much more offense to avoid this — three of the four losses during this streak have been by one run.

“I think that’s kind of natural when collectively you’re not swinging the bats that everyone wants to do just a little bit more instead of just taking a walk,” Roberts said. “I thought tonight Teo had some good at-bats, which was good to see. Muncy continues to take good at-bats and he’s obviously been feeling good at the plate. Will’s putting together good at-bats. But there’s a little more chase on pitches. He could potentially take a walk instead of fouling off a pitch.

“I don’t know if it’s collectively because we’re not going well, the guys want to do a little bit more which is understandable.”

Former first-round pick Michael McGreevy added a twist to the Dodgers’ struggles Saturday. They put runners on against McGreevy in each of the first five innings – three on singles, three on walks. But McGreevy got them to bounce into double plays four times, snuffing out any spark that threatened to bring the Dodgers’ offense back to life.

The one time they managed to get more than one baserunner on against McGreevy came in the second inning when Teoscar Hernandez walked and Max Muncy singled with one out. But Andy Pages struck out and Hyeseong Kim grounded out.

A godsend in the lineup for the first month of the season, Pages has cooled off (8 for his past 38) and struck out twice with two runners on Saturday.

“Just trying to focus on what I can do, not focus so much on the whole,” Pages said through an interpreter. “Just focus on taking good at-bats, doing good turns, not really trying to get too ahead of myself. Baseball is really hard. So offensively, there’s gonna be times where we’re not clicking, and that’s one of those times right now.”

The lack of support wasted one of the more competent starts of Sasaki’s MLB apprenticeship.

The right-hander completed six innings for the first time this year and turned in a quality start – defined statistically as three runs or fewer allowed and six innings or more pitched – for only the second time in his 14 MLB starts.

“Each of his last handful of starts, he’s gotten better,” Roberts said. “But there’s some finishing school that needs to happen, where you’ve got to get the guys out that you need to get out and try to face less hitters.”

It wouldn’t be a Sasaki start without some wayward moments.

He put two runners on after there were two out in each of the first two innings. He struck out Nolan Gorman to strand both runners in the first inning. The second inning drama came when he hit the eighth hitter, Ramon Urias, with a pitch and then walked the No. 9 hitter, Victor Scott II.

The Cardinals jumped him sooner in the third inning. Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson led off with back-to-back doubles. In both cases, Sasaki fell behind in the count – 3-and-1 to Herrera, 2-and-1 to Burleson – and came in with fastballs that both hitters anticipated.

Sasaki got ahead of the next hitter, Jordan Walker, 0-and-2. But Walker fouled off two pitches and Sasaki left a splitter rolling over the inside corner. Walker lined it into the left field seats for a two-run home run (his sixth hit in six consecutive at-bats against the Dodgers this weekend).

Sasaki survived a Nathan Church double later in the inning and retired in order the final 10 Cardinals he faced.

“After giving up three runs in the third inning, I was able to just stay focused and attack the zone, especially (the fifth and sixth) innings. So that’s good,” Sasaki said through his interpreter.

“The third and fourth innings, I was kind of struggling. I was trying to find my mechanics. But after that … I was able to make an adjustment. I got better mechanics.”

The Dodgers finally broke up the Cardinals’ shutout with two outs in the ninth inning when Kyle Tucker, Hernandez, Muncy and Pages strung together four consecutive singles — three of which went off the glove of a Cardinals infielder.

“It was a good offensive sign in the ninth inning,” Pages said. “Will had a really good at-bat. A lot of other guys had really good at-bats. So there was a lot of positives.

“But I think as a whole, we know we’re going through a bad stretch, and we’re just trying to focus on having really good at-bats one a time.”

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ slump continues with fourth consecutive loss

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