Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Dodgers make ascent to the top, then stumble

A day after capturing a half game lead in the NL West, the Dodgers stumbled in Chavez Ravine, dropping a 10-3 decision to Cleveland and falling a half game back of the Giants, 5-0 winners over St. Louis.

Josh Beckett (5-5) gave up five runs on six hits and relievers Jamey Wright and Paul Maholm couldn’t douse the Indians’ firepower in relief, giving up another five runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Dee Gordon went three-for-five to lead the Dodgers on offense, Adrian Gonzalez hit his 14th homer of the year and Yasiel Puig collected a pair of hits in the loss.

It was the kind of night that saw Gordon thrown out at second and at home and even a rare triple play when Gonzalez flied out to left, Gordon was thrown out at the plate and Puig was gunned down at second.

Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly, who saw his team climb back into the pennant race in June, said the loss was a good reminder that the team is still a work in progress.
"It really was a game that I think just shows us that we still got a lot to continue to work on," said Mattingly. "And tonight had a lot of teaching opportunities for us as we move forward. We just have to continue to get better. And it's just one of those games that shows you you're not where you want to be."
The Dodgers send Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-4, 3.12) to the mound today in the noontime series rubber match.
Next up for the Dodgers is a six-game road trip at Colorado and Detroit followed by a four-game set at Chavez Ravine against the Padres before the All-Star break.



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