Dodgers never find their groove in loss to Rockies

Walker Buehler struggles early in his fifth start back since returning from Tommy John surgery, and the offense isn’t able to string anything together in a 4-1 defeat.

LOS ANGELES — It seemed like the right spot for the Dodgers to continue building the momentum they rediscovered at the end of a six-game road trip.

Put Walker Buehler on the mound against the Colorado Rockies, an opponent they have owned at home in recent years, and start off their brief three-game homestand on the right foot before heading back out on the road.

So much for that.

Buehler gave up three earned runs, the Dodgers’ bats struggled for most of the night, and they limped to a 4-1 loss on Friday.

“You want to come home from a road trip and build momentum, and I did kind of the opposite of that,” Buehler said. “So the results are whatever they are, but that’s the most frustrating thing.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wanted better command from Buehler in his fifth start since undergoing a second Tommy John surgery in August 2022, but it was apparent early that might be an issue. Buehler gave up singles to the first two batters he faced before issuing a one-out walk to load the bases.

Although Buehler responded by striking out Kris Bryant and Brendan Rodgers to get away unscathed on the scoreboard, damage had been done by making him use a heavy pitch count.

Buehler didn’t fare nearly as well when he saw Bryant and Rodgers with runners in scoring position again in the third. Bryant singled to left to open the scoring, and Rodgers had a two-run single to make it 3-0 after Andy Pages misjudged the bouncing ball in the outfield.

Things got worse in the fourth when Ezequiel Tovar tagged Buehler for a solo homer 410 feet into center field for a 4-0 lead.

Buehler (1-3) went six innings, giving up six hits and four walks while striking out seven. He has given up three earned runs in four of his five outings this season.

“Physically, I’m probably exceeding where I thought I was gonna be, but performance-wise, you know, I feel like [expletive],” Buehler said. “I think my expectations of myself, I think I’m not anywhere close to where I want to be. When you take a layoff like that, you’re going to have the same expectations you always have, but you start tallying starts, I think it’s kind of put up or shut up time for me, at least mentally.”

It didn’t help matters that the Dodgers struggled to create against Dakota Hudson, who came in with a 1-7 record but allowed one run and four hits in seven-plus innings.

“He just keeps everything down in the zone, did a good job with that,” second baseman Gavin Lux said. “I mean, he just pitched a good game. We didn’t really get much going, and when we did, he did a good job of limiting the damage. Made pitches when he needed to.”

The offense, which failed to get past first base through seven innings, was flustered by Hudson’s effective use of a sinker.

“Sinker ball is sort of like an outlier now in baseball,” Roberts said. “And it just seemed like he was putting the ball on the ground, getting us to roll over, missing the barrel.”

The eighth was a somewhat different story, starting with Lux’s double. The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs for the top of their order, pushing their only run across when Mookie Betts hit into a double play. Freddie Freeman struck out swinging to end the threat.

“Third time through, I thought we got some balls in the air, and just missed swings,” Roberts said. “But outside of that, our guys couldn’t really manage much.”

Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freeman were a combined 0 for 11 with one walk.

Will Smith had the lone hit by the top six Dodgers batters in 22 at-bats, but he grounded out to start a meek ninth. Teoscar Hernández then struck out looking, and Kiké Hernández lined out to end what Lux could only sum up as one of those games.

“We have like four of the best hitters on Earth, one through four,” Lux said. “Tonight was baseball, it’s just how it goes. But if we can keep doing that, getting on base and set the table for them, we’re gonna score a lot of runs.”