Dodgers righthander Landon Knack rebounded from a brutal two-run, three-hit, 28-pitch first inning in his big league debut to blank the Washington Nationals with one hit over the next four innings and keep the Dodgers within striking distance held on Wednesday.
But the Dodgers never struck. An offense that ranks second in the Major Leagues in runs and homers and fourth in on-base-plus-slugging percentage yielded just five hits to Nationals starter Jake Irvin and three relievers in a 2-0 loss to a matinee audience of 44,428 at Chavez Ravine.
The Dodgers lost for the fifth time in seven games – including four of six on the current homestand – and were eliminated for the first time since a 9-0 loss to the Reds on July 30.
The top four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup, which had produced a league-best .342 average and .973 OPS on Wednesday, had just three hits – all singles by Shohei Ohtani – and one walk and struck out twice in 16 at bats
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Irvin mixed his 96 mph fastball, 132 mph curve, 94 mph sinker and 92 mph cut fastball to limit the Dodgers to four hits, six strikeouts and one walk to improve to 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA and help Washington wins two of the three games in the series.
The Nationals backed Irvin with three great plays, with second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. dove to his left to stop Freddie Freeman’s grounder in the third inning and to his right to catch Gavin Lux’s grounder in the fifth and first baseman Joey Meneses to glove Freeman’s 100 mph shot. on the bag and threw to second base to complete a double play in the sixth.
Garcia made another Gold Glove-caliber play behind reliever Hunter Harvey to save a run in the eighth, diving to his left to smother another Freeman grounder and throwing to first base for the third out, making Ohtani was left at second base. Closer Kyle Finnegan retired the side in the ninth for his seventh save.
Knack, a 2020 third-round pick out of East Tennessee State, knew he would be nervous the moment he stepped onto the mound at Dodger Stadium for the first time.
“If you don’t get a little butterflies in your stomach,” Knack said on Tuesday, “then you’re not even alive.”
Those nerves got the better of Knack in the first inning, when he threw a 90-mph fastball to leadoff man C.J. Abrams, who drove a 300-foot home run to right-center field for a 1-0 Nationals lead. Jesse Winker singled to left, took third on Garcia’s one-out single to right and scored on Meneses’ sacrifice fly to center for a 2-0 lead.
Knack walked Joey Gallo to put two on with two outs, but escaped further damage by striking out Nick Senzel on an 80-mph changeup, a touch that seemed to calm Knack’s nerves , who retired the side in the second, third and second inning. fourth innings.
Eddie Rosario led off the top of the fifth with a single to center, but Knack induced a double play grounder by Riley Adams and got Abrams to ground out to first base, capping his five innings, four hits and two runs. starts with four strikeouts, one walk and 75 pitches.
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Knack was the third Dodgers player to make his Major League debut in this series, joining reliever Ricky Vanasco, who threw two perfect innings of relief on Monday evening, and outfielder Andy Pages, who singled in his first at bat on Tuesday evening.
The Dodgers weathered a slew of rotation injuries to win 100 games last season, relying heavily on youngsters like Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Michael Grove and Ryan Pepiot, and top pitcher Gavin Stone earned a spot in this year’s Opening Day rotation.
The fact that they won 12 of their first 21 games despite already passing 21 pitchers – they used all 19 pitchers during their 1988 World Series-winning season – is a testament to the depth of an organization that has a productive farming system has maintained. while carrying one of baseball’s top five payrolls for 12 years.
“I think the whole story of how we spend on wages overall is lost when you talk about how we can supplement homegrown players,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Shout out to Billy Gasparino [vice president of baseball operations] and our player development and scouting guys. We find and develop a lot of players.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
