In what seems like a growing trend, the Dodgers lost another should-have-won game on Tuesday, this one a 10th-inning 5-4 loss to the NL East last place Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

As he has now done in his last several relief appearances, 38-year-old (that’s not a typo) Dodgers right-hander Luis García turned a sixth-inning 3-1 Dodgers lead into a 4-3 Dodgers deficit when he surrendered a leadoff double to Marlins designated hitter Agustín Ramírez, which was followed by a wild pitch on which Ramírez took second base. This was followed by a one-out double by Marlins third baseman Connor Norby scoring Ramírez, which was followed by a two-out single by Marlins center fielder Dane Myers scoring Norby, and just like that it was 4-3 Marlins.

Although the Dodgers added a run in the top of the seventh on a clutch one-out double to right by international superstar Shohei Ohtani to tie the game 4-4, it was that fourth Miami run allowed by García in the bottom of the sixth (for his first blown save of the season) that forced the game into extra innings and make the eventual 10th-inning Marlins win even possible. It also put 32-year-old Dodgers right-hander J.P. Feyereisen in position to suffer his first loss of the season, and denied 30-year-old Dodgers right-handed starter Tony Gonsolin of what would have been and should have been his second win of the season.

“I felt like I just threw too many balls. It kinda started in the third and then continued into the fourth and then on again into the fifth, but overall I was pretty solid,” Gonsolin told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “I thought I executed pitches when I needed to and they didn’t take any at-bats off, and it showed,” Gonsolin added.

Although it is admirable (and very Tony Gonsolin-like) for the popular Vacaville, CA native to fall on his sword and take full responsibility for his team’s loss, it was his team who took “at-bats off,” thereby keeping the Dodgers clinging to their precarious 0.5-game lead in the NL:

On the plus side of Tuesday’s Dodgers loss, Ohtani’s home run to right to lead off the top of the sixth inning (a second deck shot which MLB.com lists at 403 feet appeared to have traveled MUCH farther) was followed two batters later by Freddie Freeman‘s 405-footer to center gave the Dodgers a then (albeit brief) 3-2 lead.

And then there’s suddenly-red-hot 23-year-old Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages who, in addition to going 1-for-5 at the plate with a double on Monday, made what was arguably the best defensive play of the season for the Dodgers. With one out in the bottom of the third, the La Habana, Cuba native made a spectacular over-the-wall catch of a would-be two-run home run by Marlins catcher Liam Hicks. He then fired an absolute bullet to Freeman at first base to double-up Marlins center fielder Dane Myers for an outstanding (and rare) 9-3 double play to end the inning.

On to the next one.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *