Slumping Dodgers fall to Cardinals for first 3-game losing streak of season

ST. LOUIS - Symptoms persist.

Whatever funk has infected the Dodgers' lineup, it followed them to the Midwest where another mild offensive output led to a 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

The Dodgers are now 4-6 over their past 10 games, a stretch that has seen them bat .211 (71 for 337) as a team and average 3.6 runs per game. A lineup filled with underperforming stars has managed two runs or fewer in five of those 10 games – including the last three in a row, their first three-game losing streak this season.

"I mean, the season's still young. We just passed maybe 100 at-bats," outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said, taking his turn as the postgame team spokesman trying to explain the collective slump. "We're in a good place. We're winning. At the end of the day, that's what matters. We should be winning more games. But like I always said, we're going to go through bad stretches offensively, pitching, defensively. It's part of the game. We're just trying to minimize it and just trying to come back more and score some runs."

Hitting home runs would be a good way to do that. The Dodgers led the majors in that category before this slump. They have just three in the 10 games, all during the series against the Chicago Cubs last weekend.

"I think that there's some pitches that we're getting that we're missing. I think the intent is still to hit the ball hard, take good at-bats," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I don't have an answer for the no slug, the no homers, and certainly, there's got to be a balance of slug, but base hits and all that stuff. And when we do get count leverage, we're not taking advantage of it.

"But it's hard to kind of assess the entire group on why we're not slugging for the last couple weeks … because I think right now, certain guys, a lot of guys, are trying to find their swing."

Friday's offensive output amounted to a single run in the second inning on a two-out RBI double by Max Muncy and another solo score in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Tucker.

The Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in that sixth but made the least of it with Tucker and Andy Pages flying out.

That wasn't enough to overcome another troubling start from Emmet Sheehan.

Sheehan struck out eight in just 4⅔ innings, but he did most of that work with his slider. His fastball continues to lose velocity and averaged a season-low 93.4 mph against the Cardinals.

One of those arrived at the plate at just 92.9 mph chest-high and was clubbed by Nolan Gorman for a two-run first-inning home run.

"Tonight was interesting," Roberts said. "I don't want to dwell on the velo or make too big a deal. But I think it was lower tonight than it has been in the last handful of outings. I think their might even have been an 89 in there. I don't know the reason for the fluctuation. But I know he said he felt good."

Sheehan said the answer is not any physical issue and "absolutely" is tied to some work he is doing on his delivery.

"There's nothing I can point to to say, ‘This is the reason,'" Sheehan said. "We're working really hard on it. We're going to continue to work really hard on it. That's all we can do.

"There's definitely a couple different things (in his delivery). I feel like we've been making progress and then taking a step back. And, yeah, it's definitely frustrating. But yeah, we know what we need to work on. It's just fixing it now."

Most of Sheehan's trouble came in the first inning when he allowed four hits. Singles by Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker put two runners on. Will Smith's wild pickoff throw moved them up and Sheehan balked one run home on a "mental mistake." After throwing two pitches from the windup with a runner on third, he went back to the stretch without declaring it to the umpire. Three pitches later he served up the batting-practice fastball to Gorman.

"I mean, I know it's above the zone," Sheehan said. "But if I'm 97, I probably don't get hit there as hard."

Alec Burleson got a hanging slider and hit a solo home run off Sheehan in the third inning, effectively putting the game away for the Cardinals with four runs – a total the Dodgers haven't reached offensively since Monday.

They put it conventionally out of reach with three runs in the seventh inning against Edgardo Henriquez. Walker drove in two of the runs with a double, the last of his four hits in the game. Hernandez misplayed the ball in the left-field corner, allowing Walker to reach third. He scored on a ground ball.

Looking for answers to spark some offense, Roberts was asked if he might shake up the lineup – more than the switch of Freeman and Tucker he already made.

"I think right now, unfortunately, we have a lot more guys that are not swinging the bats well than that are," he said. "So shuffling the lineup, I just don't think that's a solution right now."

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 8:37 PM.