ST. LOUIS -- On a night when Roki Sasaki put together arguably one of his best big league starts and the bullpen put up zeros behind him, the Dodgers didn't present much of a threat until they were down to their final out.
Perhaps the Dodgers felt a little urgency on the verge of being shut out for what would have been the second time this season. If that was the case, they responded the right way, scoring twice in the top of the ninth inning to put pressure on the Cardinals. But it was too little, too late, as they fell, 3-2, on Saturday night at Busch Stadium, dropping the first two games of their weekend series in St. Louis.
The final inning was better than the first eight, in which L.A.'s offense continued its malaise of nearly two weeks. The Dodgers are hopeful they can build on how they ended the contest, but that doesn't change the fact that their season-high losing streak hit four games.
“It was a good offensive sign in the ninth inning," Andy Pages said through interpreter Juan Dorado. "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 at a time.”
The Dodgers were in a decent position to end their skid thanks to Sasaki, who has been a wild card in his second big league season. He rebounded from a three-run third inning -- which began with back-to-back doubles and a Jordan Walker two-run homer before he recorded an out -- for the second quality start of his career. He struck out four, walked two and allowed five hits while completing six innings for the first time this year on a career-high 104 pitches.
"After giving up three runs in the third inning," Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo, "I was able to just stay focused and attack the zone, especially [the fifth and sixth] innings."
Short of picking up a bat and stepping in against Cardinals right-hander Michael McGreevy, Sasaki did all he could to keep his team in the game. The Dodgers created some opportunities against McGreevy, but their momentum was often short-lived, as they hit into four double plays in the first five innings.
That has been a theme over the past 11 games dating back to April 21, in which opponents have held the Dodgers to four runs or fewer eight times. They have gone 4-7 in that span.
"For eight innings, I thought once we started to build something, the double plays got us," manager Dave Roberts said. "They turned a couple really good ones. That certainly kills innings."
The Dodgers ran into some bad batted-ball luck. Shohei Ohtani lined into a double play on a ball that had an expected batting average of .630 in the third inning, for instance. The Cardinals made plays all night long until their defense lapsed in the ninth, and L.A.'s luck shifted.
Righty reliever Riley O'Brien struck out Freddie Freeman on three pitches to start the inning. Will Smith worked his way to a full count, but he lined out to right on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. Then Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández hit back-to-back infield singles that shortstop Masyn Winn couldn't field cleanly. Max Muncy followed with an RBI single that glanced off the glove of a leaping JJ Wetherholt, and Pages knocked in another run on a grounder through the left side of the infield.
Just like that, the Dodgers had finally built an inning. But they had only one out to work with, and pinch-hitter Dalton Rushing struck out to end the game.
The Dodgers don't deny that they're scuffling, but they also don't feel that their tepid offense will be a concern in the long term. In the short term, they may be feeling some urgency, but it's all about how they respond to it. If it causes them to press at the plate, it's unproductive. If it helps them focus on taking quality at-bats -- as was the case in the ninth inning -- then it could be an asset.
"Hopefully," Roberts said, "we can take that sense of urgency tomorrow against a guy that we're very familiar with."
Indeed, right-hander Dustin May will take on his former team for the first time as L.A. stares down a potential sweep on Sunday afternoon. If the Dodgers are able to salvage the series, it will begin with solving him.