The All-Star break all of a sudden looks more and more like something the Dodgers need, as they suffered a second blowout loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in as many nights, 9-2 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
Simply losing consecutive games has been rare for the Dodgers, as this marked just their second two-game losing streak in the last two months. But to lose consecutively in blowout fashion is even more rare, as they followed up Friday’s 9-3 loss with a defeat by seven runs on Saturday.
The Dodgers have lost by six or more runs only eight times this season — they’ve won 22 such games, for comparison — and never consecutively before now. The only other similar streak came from May 9-12, when the Dodgers lost four straight games by five, five, six, and four runs.
For a while, this looked more like a typical game, especially for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered the sixth inning having allowed only one run, with the Dodgers trailing 1-0. But Arizona tacked on five runs in the frame, punctuated by a three-run home run by catcher James McCann.
Six runs allowed is a season high for Yamamoto, who will head to Philadelphia for All-Star festivities but will not pitch in the game. His four walks matched a season high.