Even though the NL West first place Dodgers lost to the NL Central fourth place Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 1-0 at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon, they managed to maintained their 7.0-game lead over the NL West second place San Diego Padres, and their 9.0-game lead over the NL West fourth place San Francisco Giants, as both division rivals lost their respective games as well.

That’s the good news.

The not-so-good-news is the the (now) NL West third-place Arizona Diamondbacks won their fourth straight game on Tuesday and have quickly gone from a division-rival laugher to a serious contender, with no hint of slowing down anytime soon.

But the toughest pill for Dodgers fans to swallow is that despite a strong start from 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who allowed only one run and only three hits, with two walks and nine strike outs in his 6.0 inning start, the Dodgers offense managed no runs and only five hits, going a horrific 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position while stranding seven runners on base.

“A couple opportunities we had and just couldn’t get that hit with two outs,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters postgame of his team’s on-going offensive struggles.

“I mean, yeah, a couple games where we got a lot of guys on base and we hit the ball hard at people with two outs, one out, and we didn’t have the job done,” echoed Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who went 0-for-4 with a strikeout on Tuesday. “But just take as just part of the season, it’s gonna happen, it’s happening for us in the last week and a half, and we just have to keep going and keep working hard.”

Of those five Dodgers hits, two were by Dodgers first baseman and future Hall of Famer Freddie Freeman, who lined a bases empty two-out single to right in the top of the first inning, and lined a bases empty two-out double to center in the top of the third.

Getting back to Tyler Glasnow, with his nine strikeouts on Tuesday, he now has an MLB-best 104 on the season.

Obviously, with exactly 100 games remaining in the 2024 regular season, there is no cause for panic just yet. But come the final week of the season, and should Roberts’ team be in an uncomfortably close division race, it’s going to be difficult not to think back on all of those “…a couple opportunities we had” games that his team lost.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *