Dave Roberts wants Dodgers to 'flush this one' after Cardinals loss

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers came home Tuesday night hoping to turn the page.

Instead, they were reminded just how quickly a game can get away from them.

After a six-game road trip, the Dodgers returned to Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium and were overwhelmed early, falling behind by seven runs through the first three innings before ultimately losing 13-8 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 82-56 and opened a nine-game homestand on a sour note. The Dodgers’ offense eventually found its footing, but the deficit created by a rough night from the pitching staff was simply too much to overcome.

The Dodgers allowed five home runs, with Cardinals’ Thomas Saggese doing much of the damage. Saggese entered the night hitting .210 with one home run and four RBIs.

He left with three home runs and seven RBIs.

It was that kind of night.

For the Dodgers, the problem wasn't necessarily an inability to swing the bat. It was everything that happened before the offense could get comfortable.

Lauer's Worst Start as a Dodger

Eric Lauer never found his footing.

The left-hander lasted only three innings, allowing eight hits and seven earned runs while walking one and striking out two on 63 pitches. It marked his worst start as a Dodger and put the Dodgers in a hole it would spend the rest of the night trying to escape.

The Cardinals wasted little time getting to him.

Ramon Urias opened the scoring with a home run before Saggese followed with one of his own, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Saggese struck again in the third, and the Cardinals continued piling on as the Dodgers struggled to contain the hard contact.

Lauer acknowledged afterward that he may have overcomplicated things.

“Sometimes you can go a little too far and kind of lose yourself,” Lauer said.

He believes he has been tinkering too much and wasn't able to make the necessary adjustments once the game began moving in the wrong direction.

“Getting back to the basics is really, really all I think I need to do,” Lauer said.

His night ended after the third inning, with Seth Halvorsen taking over in the fourth.

And by then, the Cardinals had already built a 7-0 advantage.

Dodgers Offense Keeps Fighting

The game could have easily turned into a complete blowout. It didn't.

The Dodgers kept pushing.

Mookie Betts reached base four times and drove in all four of the Dodgers' first runs, delivering an RBI double in the third inning before adding another RBI double  in the fifth.

One of those early runs came courtesy of a defensive miscue by St. Louis.

A shallow fly ball turned into an adventure when Jose Fermin and Jordan Walker collided in right field, allowing Betts' pop-up to fall and three Dodgers runs to cross the plate.

It wasn't pretty, but the Dodgers finally had some life.

Then came the moment Dodgers fans had been waiting nearly three months to see.

Welcome Back, Will Smith

Will Smith was back in the lineup.

After missing nearly three months with an injury, Smith returned Tuesday and immediately looked comfortable at the plate.

He went 1-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, including an RBI hit that gave the Dodgers another spark as they attempted to climb back into the game.

Smith said afterward that the injury simply needed time to heal.

“It was just an injury that needed time to heal,” Smith said. “Felt good. Felt like I didn't miss a beat.”

Dave Roberts liked what he saw from his catcher, particularly considering the amount of time Smith had missed.

“He took good AB’s considering he hasn’t played a long time,” Roberts said. “Good to see him with that workload up, he’ll be back on Thursday.”

Smith will get Wednesday off before returning to the lineup Thursday.

Too Much Damage to Overcome

Even with the offense fighting, the Cardinals kept answering.

By the time the Dodgers reached the late innings, St. Louis had pushed its lead to 13-5.

The Dodgers managed to make the final score respectable, but the three-run ninth inning merely changed the appearance of the game rather than its story.

Tommy Edman collected his third hit of the night and drove in another run in the ninth, cutting the deficit to 13-8.

That was as close as the Dodgers would get.

The Dodgers' offense had produced enough moments to keep the team engaged, but not enough to erase the enormous hole created by the pitching staff.

“From the day, there were some positives with the AB’s,” Roberts said. “I liked some of the swings, taking the walks, pushing runs across.”

“But tonight, we got behind. Eric wasn’t sharp, a lot of hard contact. We had a tough start but it was good to see us fighting.”

And perhaps most importantly, Roberts appreciated that the Dodgers didn't simply fold.

“Our guys didn’t quit, which I really appreciate.”

The timing of the loss makes it more concerning than simply dropping the first game of a homestand.

The Dodgers entered September hoping to leave their August struggles behind. Instead, they surrendered 13 runs to a Cardinals team that came into the night below .500.

The Dodgers now sit at 82-56, three and a half games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and only a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League.

With 24 games remaining, there isn't much room left for games to get away like Tuesday did.

The Dodgers have already lost the tiebreaker to both Atlanta and Milwaukee, making every remaining game increasingly important.

The offense can survive an occasional off night.

What the Dodgers can't afford is for its pitching to repeatedly put the team in impossible situations before the bats have a chance to respond.

Tuesday was a prime example.

Five Cardinals home runs. Seven runs allowed through three innings. A 13-run night from St. Louis.

And ultimately, another loss at a time when the Dodgers desperately need to start stacking wins.

Roberts isn't ready to panic.

The Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled to start Wednesday, followed by Tarik Skubal on Thursday, giving the Dodgers an opportunity to quickly erase the memory of Tuesday's collapse.

Roberts said he remains confident the Dodgers can still win the series.

“Try to flush this one and win tomorrow night, and give ourselves a chance to win the series,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers didn't lose Tuesday because their offense stopped competing. They lost because their pitching dug a hole far too deep to escape.

Roberts said the team had a “good hitters meeting” earlier in the day, and the offense showed signs of life despite the deficit.

But as September begins, the Dodgers need more than signs. They need results.

As for Shohei Ohtani, Roberts said his right arm “feels pretty good” and expressed no immediate concern about Ohtani's knee or the hit by pitch.

For one night, though, the biggest concern was much more straightforward:

The Dodgers couldn't get enough outs.