Dodgers Lose Five in a Row and Sink into Last Place

Dodgers 2 7 1

Diamondbacks 9 15 1

WP- Cahill (2-3)

LP- Capuano (0-2)

HR- Crawford (5), Goldschmidt (6), Ross (1)

The Dodgers finally placed Mark Ellis on the disabled list before Monday night’s game at Dodger Stadium. For some reason they have been waiting to do so while the Dodgers have been playing a man short. Ellis will be eligible to be activated on Sunday. Adrian Gonzalez‘s MRI showed a neck strain, and he said he will play through the pain instead of being disabled as well. That doesn’t sound like the best plan. It’s very concerning how the Dodgers training staff allows players to play while injured. Matt Kemp should have never been allowed to continue to play last season after slamming into the Coors Field outfield wall. Let’s hope that Gonzalez will not cause more damage to his neck and end up on an extended DL stint. Jerry Hairston Jr. is also expected to land on the DL with a groin strain.

Chris Capuano allows two homeruns and 5 earned runs in his second loss in as many starts. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Capuano will be making his first start after returning from the ever popular disabled list. Cappy, who was an integral part of the Dodger rotation last season, was somewhat pushed to the backburner after the Dodgers signed Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu over the offseason. Capuano’s last start was disastrous after he attempted to pitch through injury. Are you sensing a pattern here? Capuano will try to stop the skid tonight as the hobbled Dodgers look for a much needed victory.

A.J. Pollack hits a deep fly ball to Matt Kemp in center to open the game, but luckily it stays in the park. Didi Gregorius, the shortstop, also hits a fly ball to center. Annoying Paul Goldschmidt singles up the  middle with two outs. Cody Ross hits the third fly ball of the inning to Matt Kemp to end the frame.

Trevor Cahill, who always gives the Dodgers a hard time, strikes out Carl Crawford to begin the bottom half of the first. Nick Punto draws a four-pitch walk. Even with a stiff neck Adrian Gonzalez is still a great hitter. Gonzo single to right, and the Dodgers have runners at first and third with one out. Punto scores on a sacrifice fly from Matt Kemp, and the Dodgers take a 1-0 lead. Andre Ethier flies out to end the inning.

The Dodger lead is very short lived. Miguel Montero leads off with a single in the top of the second. Martin Prado and Gerardo Parra walk consecutively to load the bases up. Josh Wilson grounds into a double play, and Montero is out at home. The inning should have been over since the opposing pitcher Trevor Cahill was up to bat. Cahill proceeds to triple. Carl Crawford tries to dive for the ball which ends up rolling all the way to the wall. Two runs score. A.J. Pollack follows with a double, and the D-backs add a third run. Rick Honeycutt has to go out to the mound to try to settle Cappy down. Gregorius lines out, but not before the Snakes take a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the second, A.J. Ellis hits a lead-off single. Ellis takes second on a Juan Uribe groundout. Dee Gordon‘s groundout moves Ellis to third.

Trevor Cahill once again roughs up the Dodgers. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Capuano grounds out, and Ellis is stranded at third.

Capuano allows back-to-back singles to Goldy and Ross in the third, but he manages to retire the following three batters to pitch a scoreless inning.

Crawford makes up for that horrible play in left field by hitting his fifth homerun of the season to lead-off the bottom of the third. This puts the Dodgers within one run of the lead now, 3-2. Nick Punto and Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles, but Matt Kemp grounds into a force out. Ethier grounds into the inning ending double play.

Cappy settles down in the fourth to pitch a nice 1-2-3 inning and strikes out Wilson and Pollack in the process.

Juan Uribe singles with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Dee Gordon attempts to bunt for a hit, but Montero is very quick to get to the ball to throw him out at first. Capuano grounds out.

Crawford screws up again in left field after the ball bumbles out of his glove after he catches a routine fly ball by Gregorius. Don Mattingly goes out to argue that he dropped the ball after he caught it, but the umps disagree and he’s charged with the error. Then Goldschmidt launches a two-run homerun to straightaway center field, and the D-backs take a 5-2 lead. Then if that wasn’t bad enough, Cody Ross also homers. 6-2. That’s going to be all for Capuano. He pitched 4 innings and allowed 5 runs on 6 hits with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks on 90 pitches. Cappy is not pleased as he heads back to the clubhouse and beats up a water cooler on the way. Paco Rodriguez will comes out of the bullpen in relief. Montero flies out. Martin Prado singles. Parra flies out. Prado steals second with Wilson at bat. Ethier makes a nice sliding catch on a line drive by Wilson to end the inning.

Cahill sends the Dodgers down quickly in order in the bottom of the fifth.

Paco strikes out the side in the sixth! Cahill, Pollack, and Gregorius all are whiffed by Rodriguez.

Other than a walk by A.J., the Dodgers can’t do anything in the bottom of the sixth.

Matt Guerrier is in to pitch the seventh for the Dodgers. Goldschmidt strikes out swinging, and Guerrier retires Ross and Montero for a perfect frame.

Andre Ethier makes a nice sliding catch in the fifth inning. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Dee Gordon draws a lead-off walk in the bottom of the seventh. Skip Schumaker reaches second base after grounding into a force out which spurs an errant throw and error by Gregorius on an attempted double play. Crawford grounds out to first. Nick Punto grounds out, and Dee is stranded at second.

Javy Guerra is in for the top of the eighth. Prado beats out an Uribe throw for an infield single. Parra grounds into a force out. Wilson goes down on strikes for the second out. Eric Hinske grounds out to end the inning.

Matt Reynolds will take over for Trevor Cahill in the bottom of the eighth. Cahill pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 2 and walking 3 on 94 pitches. Reynolds, a lefty,  promptly strikes out Gonzo. Matt Kemp gets greedy, and he’s easily tagged out while trying to stretch a single into a double. TOOTBLAN. Ethier grounds out.

We’ve come to the ninth inning. Guerra is back out there, and he serves up a lead-off single to A.J. Pollack. Gregorius follows with a single as well. Goldschmidt hits the third consecutive single for the D-backs, and Pollack scores. That’s Goldschmidt’s fourth hit of the game. Ross grounds into a force which should have been a double play but Gordon double clutches the ball. The pain continues as Montero singles in yet another run. Arizona is now up 8-2. Prado lines out to Dre. Parra singles in yet another run. The inning mercifully comes to an end as Josh Wilson strikes out, but not before the D-backs add three more runs.

Brad Ziegler will close up shop for Arizona in the bottom of the ninth. Ellis grounds out, Uribe strikes out swinging, and Gordon strikes out swinging.

The Dodgers now are 13-18 on the season and have lost five games in a row. They have yet to win a game this month. San Diego defeated Miami, so the Dodgers are now in last place in the National League West. Will this finally wake up the front office to make some changes? Or will they be satisfied with the status quo? The fans will have their say. Dodger Stadium was looking pretty empty tonight.

Tomorrow evening Josh Beckett will once again vie for his first win of the season as he goes up against Brandon McCarthy in game two. The Dodgers will need to claw and scratch their way out of this hole. There’s still time.