Dodgers' bullpen the guilty party in latest loss

LOS ANGELES - If it's not one thing, it's another.

The Dodgers' offense has been dissected and analyzed like a bug on a slide. The starting pitching only recently became a concern with Tyler Glasnow's injury, Blake Snell's premature return and, of course, Roki Sasaki's mystery grab bag every time out.

Even with closer Edwin Diaz's injury, the bullpen had been fairly stable – and Alex Vesia a rock of dependability within that. But Vesia entered a tie game in the seventh inning and retired just one of five batters he faced as the San Francisco Giants scored three times then blew the game open in the ninth to hand the Dodgers their latest disappointment, a 9-3 loss in the opener of a four-game series Monday night.

Eight of the Giants' runs came in the sixth inning or later. The Dodgers have now lost three games in a row – by a combined score of 23-7 – eight of their past 12 and 13 of their past 22 games. With this loss, they fell out of first place in the NL West.

"We're in a funk right now, and it's a team-wide thing," said third baseman Max Muncy, who drove in two of the Dodgers' three runs and tied the score with a solo home run in the sixth inning.

"We're not taking this lightly right now. But you know, we also understand it is 162(-game season) and we've gone through stretches like this in the past, and we've also gone through good stretches. … We're having a lot of conversations. But it's also trying not to overreact to something still early in May."

After Muncy's home run knotted the score at 3-3, Vesia struck out Jesus Rodriguez to start the seventh. But he gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases then lost a seven-pitch battle with Rafael Devers, walking him to force in a run.

"Got the first guy out, and then three consecutive hits, two of them were middle. So I just need to be better with the fastball," Vesia said. "Obviously I've pitched against them a lot, so I need to be better.

"This one was on me tonight."

Not yet.

Will Klein replaced Vesia and struck out Heliot Ramos. He got ahead of Willy Adames, 0-and-2 then 1-and-2, moving one pitch away from ending the inning. But Adames fought off a high slider, dumping a soft single into right field to drive in two runs.

"Just left it up. It didn't bite. Just spun there. The worst slider I threw today in the worst possible spot. Not fun," Klein said, taking no solace in the fact that the ball left Adames' bat at just 74.1 mph.

"Yeah. But he was able to get under it because it was up. If it's down and it's 74 on the ground, it's an out or he misses it. But it's up," he said. "I had two chances to execute pitches and I didn't. Sometimes they'll hit it really hard to guys and you feel like you luck out. The last couple it feels like they're hitting it 74 right where we're not.

"The BABIP (batting average on balls in play) gods will get you and they'll ruin your day."

The Giants didn't have to put many balls in play to put the game out of reach in the ninth inning. Dodgers reliever Wyatt Mills gave up three runs on just one hit – because he walked four and hit a batter.

"When you look at teams and you look at the teams that we've had, every year, we sort of go through it. And really every team goes through it," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It's not fun when you're going through it. But you've just got to remain positive. You do. I think that building on some wins and knowing that the guys are working, that it will turn. It always has. That's kind of what I'm hanging my hat on."

For it to turn collectively, it might need to turn for one individual in particular. Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 5 on Monday with three ground outs to the right side of the infield and two strikeouts. All five at-bats looked unsettlingly distant from Ohtani's norm.

"Yes, it is. It is. It is," Roberts said when asked if this was as out of sorts as he has ever seen Ohtani. "I think even early on (this season), when he wasn't right, he was still taking walks and getting on base. But I think right now – and tonight was a classic example – I think he's just trying to swing out of it. And so that's just apparent. And a lot of hitters, when they are scuffling, they want to kind of swing out of it. And so tonight was one of those nights.

"I think the thought is understandable. But when you're a really dangerous hitter and pitchers are not going to give in to you, then it's really not a good mindset. Because you sort of gotta take what they give you. And so tonight, they clearly weren't going to give in to him. And he took the bait tonight."

For the third time this season – a rarity that is becoming less rare – Ohtani took batting practice on the field before Monday's game, searching for something. He didn't find it. He is 4 for his past 38 (.105) with only one home run in his past 115 plate appearances.

Ohtani is scheduled to pitch again Wednesday. Roberts said Ohtani will not hit in either that game or Thursday's game.

"I thought the BP, the intent was good," Roberts said. "I thought the homers to the big part of the field (in batting practice) were really good, and then just in the game, it just sort of reverted back to what it's been."

The Dodgers were left to look to Sasaki for positives out of Monday.

Devers clipped him for a solo home run in the second inning, but Sasaki worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the third, retired eight in a row at one point and pitched into the sixth inning with just that one run allowed.

But he gave up singles to Casey Schmitt and Devers to start the sixth then a two-run double to Heliot Ramos that ended Sasaki's night.

"I think that Roki's been good. I really do," Roberts said. "He got into the sixth inning and he gives up a grounder to Schmitt, a ball off the end of the bat to Devers and then a changeup that Ramos hooks down the line. He had enough pitches to get through the sixth inning and it could've been a six-inning, one-run outing. I'm not going to look at a grounder that gets by the third baseman as making it a bad outing. I think Roki's certainly doing his part."

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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 10:37 PM.