LOS ANGELES -- After taking two of three against the Giants in San Francisco, the Dodgers were hoping to ride some of that momentum into a tough six-game homestand against the Cubs and Mets.
The night started with a sold-out crowd welcoming former Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger back to Dodger Stadium on Friday. The tribute gave Bellinger and the fans a chance to reminisce about the best moments of the former NL MVP's six seasons in Los Angeles.
It ended on a much more sour note, however, as those same fans grew restless as the Dodgers lost 8-2 to the Cubs.
“Tonight, I think for us, it’s just you got to flush it,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We were in there the whole game and then lost it late, but we got to come in tomorrow, that’s all we can do.”
Noah Syndergaard got the start for the Dodgers and the right-hander had some ups and downs. His velocity was down from his last two starts, but he was able to limit the damage, allowing three runs and striking out nine over six innings. Syndergaard’s changeup was much more effective than it was last weekend against the D-backs.
"My changeup's pretty much a feel pitch,” Syndergaard said. “Just had a good feel for it tonight. Felt it was a lot better for the most part than the start against the Diamondbacks, with the exception of the double to Bellinger in the fourth inning. Felt like it definitely got better as the game went on."
Syndergaard’s solid performance kept the Dodgers in the game long enough to give the offense a chance to get some runs against Cubs starter Justin Steele. But the left-hander kept the Dodgers’ lineup, which was missing Will Smith because of an illness, quiet for most of the night, allowing two runs over seven innings.
The only encouraging moments from the game were swings from Max Muncy and Chris Taylor.
Taylor got the Dodgers on the board with a solo homer in the third. The Dodgers’ utility man now has four hits this season, three of them for homers. Muncy, on the other hand, continued his strong week, jumping on a Steele fastball for his fifth homer in his last three starts.
Muncy’s homer cut the Dodgers’ deficit to one run after seven innings. But that opportunity was quickly wiped away as the Cubs hit three solo homers off Andre Jackson in the top of the eighth to extend the lead. Jackson allowed five runs over two innings, continuing the slow start to the season by the Dodgers’ bullpen.
Roberts said the team will look at the video and see if Jackson was tipping his pitches.
“Shoot, maybe. It’s something we’re always working on,” Jackson said. “I have to go look at it, though, and see what happened.”
Roberts explained his decision to go with Jackson with the Dodgers trailing by just one run in the eighth. The skipper said that with the team playing the next 10 days, he didn’t want to burn all of his leverage relievers with his team trailing by one. Up to that point, the Dodgers’ offense had recorded just three hits.
Caleb Ferguson was the other pitcher Roberts considered turning to, but he ultimately went to Jackson, a move that put the game out of reach.
“It’s one of those things where I just didn’t think offensively -- we didn’t do a whole lot for seven innings,” Roberts said. “So that’s the decision I made, and obviously it didn’t work out.”
Overall, it’s been a challenging stretch for the Dodgers, and they are stuck at .500 through 14 games. Momentum has been hard to find so far this season.
“It’s coming,” Roberts said. “I think that to kind of sync up the hitting and pitching and get some traction and winning some consecutive ballgames, that’s been hard for us to do at this point.”