It was – hands down – the ugliest loss of the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season for the Dodgers. So ugly, in fact, that the Dodgers blew leads in the ninth, 10th, and 11th innings, ultimately falling to the suddenly-surging San Francisco Giants by a score of 10-8.

Yes, that’s three blown saves in three consecutive innings – something that hasn’t happened in the modern era since July 24, 1998, when the (then) Florida Marlins did so to the Philadelphia Phillies.

With their three blown saves in a single game, the Dodgers set a new franchise record at the hands of right-handed closer Kenley Jansen, left-hander Scott Alexander, and eventual game-losing right-hander Dennis Santana.

Tuesday’s nightmare began with yet another poor outing by 24-year-old Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias, who once again didn’t make it into the fifth inning, having allowed four runs on six hits with three walks. He did, however, strike out six of the 22 batters he faced, so he had that going for him.

Unfortunately, of those six hits, two were doubles and one a game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning by Giants first baseman Brandon Belt.

“When you make mistakes, you pay the price,” Urias told reporters after the game.

Fact.

The Dodgers also went a collective 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position on the night, while stranding 11 men on base.

Ugly indeed.

But it was Santana’s 83.1-mph slider to Giants second baseman Donovan Solano that abruptly ended the four-hour and 22-minute-long contest between the two longtime rivals.

In addition to their three blown saves, the Dodgers also committed two very costly errors, one by second baseman Kiké Hernandez, his fifth of the season, and the other by Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy, his first. Muncy did, however, hit his eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot in the top of the first inning to give the Dodgers a brief 3-0 lead, so there’s that.

“It just wasn’t a well-played game for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We didn’t do a lot of things right. We kept those guys in the ballgame, and they walked us off.”

Yes, they did.

If there is a silver lining to all of this, it’s that the NL West second-place San Diego Padres also lost on Tuesday, thus allowing the Dodgers to maintain their four-game lead over the Friars at (exactly) the mid-way point of the short 60-game 2020 season.

That said, with their win over the Dodgers on Tuesday, the Giants have now won seven in a row.

Play Ball!

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