CHICAGO — It was a miserable day to try to play baseball. And the Dodgers played accordingly.
Errors by Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts led to four unearned runs and Gavin Stone lasted just three innings, sending the Dodgers into a nearly three-hour rain delay down by six runs. When play resumed, the Chicago Cubs completed the formalities of an 8-1 defeat of the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at a sodden Wrigley Field.
“You just write that one off as a clunker,” Freeman said after the long soggy day. “We didn’t catch the ball for Gavin. Didn’t hit.
“Just a bad day.”
It wasn’t a great weekend as the Dodgers lost two of three in temperatures that never climbed out of the 40s, culminating with intermittent drizzle Sunday morning becoming a steady rain shortly after game time.
“I think today is one of those days you just want to wash (away),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Already down 5-0, things reached a breaking point in the bottom of the fourth inning after Dodgers reliever Gus Varland entered the game, gave up a leadoff double to Ian Happ and hit Seiya Suzuki with a pitch.
With most of the Dodgers standing in the rain, umpires waved the grounds crew onto the field. For several minutes, they spread the absorbent mix “Diamond Dry” all around the infield to try to soak up developing puddles. The rain, however, never slowed down so as soon as the grounds crew had treated one area and moved to another, puddles started reforming in the first area.
“I was chatting with the umpire at third base the whole time – because I’m playing in a puddle of water,” said Miguel Rojas, making his first start at third base since 2020. “I’m not saying that that’s why I made an error or anything like that. But you can see. Everybody can see it. That’s not the best conditions.”
When play resumed, Varland got two ground balls. One was handled by Freeman for an out but the next splashed its way to Rojas. He reached into his glove to find a baseball mixed with mud and water. His throw was in the dirt – actually, one of the handful of smaller puddles near first base – and Freeman was unable to scoop it.
A run scored on the play and the umpiring crew finally waved the grounds crew – and the tarp – onto the field.
As he left the field, Rojas – who slipped and fell running out of the batter’s box on his third-inning at-bat – confronted the umpiring crew led by Laz Diaz, clearly voicing his displeasure over their handling of the situation.
“We all understand. We’ve been playing the game of baseball a long time and we understand the business side of it,” Rojas said. “We’re trying to get a game in, because we’re getting out of here and we’re not playing another game here in Chicago. But obviously the conditions on the field were improper to play a game (on) after I think the third inning.
“No excuses. They played better baseball than us today. But I feel like sometimes you’ve got to understand a little bit more the conditions of the field or whatever.”
The Cubs did indeed outplay the Dodgers on defense. Second baseman Nico Hoerner, in particular, stood out with defensive gems in two of the three games.
“I think their defense was the difference,” Roberts said. “They played very good defense. And there were some plays we just didn’t make. But honestly, I don’t think we pitched well out of the gate.”
Stone did not and the first four runs the Dodgers gave up were less weather-related.
Freeman’s misplay helped the Cubs load the bases with two outs in the first inning and Stone gave up a three-run double to Michael Busch. In the second inning, a walk and a single set up a sacrifice fly – the Cubs’ only earned run off Stone.
In the third, Betts couldn’t come up with a two-out ground ball to his right. A wild pitch and a double by Mike Tauchman turned that into another unearned run.
“I thought Gavin had the stuff early, but I thought he was a little too fine – three walks in three innings, certainly not ideal,” Roberts said.
“To some of those hitters early on, I thought he had a couple of hitters to wipe out and put away, and there was a late walk, a 1-2 to 4-2 walk, and I think getting behind with the fastball off the plate, some a little bit down. There were certainly some good throws in there, but I think for him, when he’s filling up the zone, working quickly, he’s at his best.”
Meanwhile, the Dodgers managed just two singles in four innings against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga.
When play resumed after a two-hour, 51-minute rain delay, Imanaga did not return. But the Dodgers managed only two more hits in five innings – both by Shohei Ohtani – against a conga line of Cubs relievers. Ohtani tripled to the wall in center field with two outs in the sixth then drove in the Dodgers’ only run of the day with a two-out double in the eighth.
“Offensively, there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about,” Roberts said. “It was good to see Shohei swing the bat well. And like I said – it’s one of those games you just want to wash.”
