PHOENIX – Much of the talk surrounding Noah Syndergaard this spring involved velocity. There was plenty of it Saturday.
Eight balls hit by the Arizona Diamondbacks off Syndergaard in the first three innings had an exit velocity of 98 mph or higher as they erased an early four-run burst by the Dodgers and handed them a 12-8 defeat.
“Just poor execution with my pitches,” Syndergaard said. “They capitalized on just about every single one of my mistakes. It was difficult for me to find a rhythm and when I did, I wasn’t successful at shutting down their offense with two outs.
“Just a super disappointing outing especially when the offense comes out like that in the beginning of the game. … It’s definitely one that I’ll want back.”
Diamondbacks starter Zach Davies won’t remember it fondly either.
The Dodgers bounced him around for those four runs in the first inning (including James Outman’s third home run of the season). Davies survived that and three consecutive walks in the fourth inning only to leave the game in the fifth inning with a strained left oblique, dropping into a crouch in obvious pain after delivering a pitch.
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Syndergaard made it only through four innings, the shortest outing by a Dodgers starter this season (Michael Grove pitched into the fifth in his first start but didn’t retire a batter there). He held the Diamondbacks to one run on four hits over six innings in his first start of the season, striking out six along the way.
“I don’t really think about it that way because they see five other pitchers before they get back to me,” Syndergaard said of the challenge of facing the same lineup in consecutive starts. “So it just didn’t work out like the first one.”
He didn’t miss many bats Saturday, getting just three swings-and-misses out of 72 pitches. His fastball – the subject of so much attention this spring and optimism from Syndergaard – averaged just 93 mph, down from 94.1 mph in his first start of the season.
“I still think he commands the baseball well. Tonight he didn’t,” Dodgers manager Dave Robert said. “So it’s just hard for me to look back and look at the same velocity he had his last outing against these guys and criticize velocity. For me, I can poke holes in the command part of it and the teethy-ness of his pitches.”
Two of Syndergaard’s toothless four-seamers met with over-the-fence fates, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte each hitting one for a two-run home run in the second inning.
“I think tonight he just wasn’t sharp,” Roberts said. “I think there was just a lot of pitches that were elevated, belt line and they took advantage — across the board, whether it’s a two-seamer just off, the changeup up and they took some good swings.”
Syndergaard wasn’t the only Dodgers pitcher treated like so many stale Peeps by the Diamondbacks Saturday. It was a one-run game, 6-5, when he left the game but the three pitchers who followed Syndergaard – Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol and Andre Jackson – gave up six runs on nine hits over the final four innings.
It was a two-run game, 7-5, when Mookie Betts had a two-out double in the sixth. Freddie Freeman came up against Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel and drove a shot to the wall in straightaway center field. It came within feet of clearing the yellow line on the wall for a game-tying two-run home run but went as a one-run double instead.
It was one of four hits in the game for Freeman including two doubles off the wall in center field.
“I thought both of them (were going out),” Freeman said. “That’s a tall wall out there.”
Will Smith grounded out to strand Freeman as the potential tying run and the Diamondbacks opened it up with five runs in the next two innings.
Back-to-back losses at Chase Field have given the Dodgers their first losing streak of the season. In those two games, they have given up 18 runs on 27 hits including 12 for extra bases – four home runs, seven doubles and a triple.
“Those guys do a nice job of putting the ball in play, certainly with mistakes elevated,” Roberts said of a Diamondbacks team the Dodgers will face for the eighth time in the first 10 games of the season Sunday. “There’s a lot of foot speed there, so they’re going to turn singles into doubles.
“I thought we swung the bats well, and when you score seven, eight runs you expect to win a ballgame. But it seemed like every guy we were running out there, we couldn’t put up a zero. It doesn’t happen very often with our ballclub, but you’ve got to give those guys credit.”
The Dodgers’ relievers have struggled to put up zeroes so far this season. The bullpen has given up 15 runs in 28 innings so far.
“We’ve talked about it,” Roberts said. “They’re working through it right now. But the league’s not gonna wait for you. So you still gotta perform while you’re trying to figure things out.”