Tony Gonsolin gives up 5 home runs as Dodgers’ winning streak ends
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak ended with a thud – actually five of them.
Starter Tony Gonsolin gave up five home runs and 10 runs in just 3⅓ innings, putting the Dodgers in a deep hole on their way to an 11-3 beatdown by the Miami Marlins on Friday night.
Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts had been the lead dogs during the Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak and 15-1 start to August. But they were done for the night after just four innings Friday as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called off the dogs and surrendered to the Marlins with a doubleheader looming Saturday.
“I just don’t think tonight he had life to his fastball,” Roberts said of Gonsolin. “Just missed a lot with a lot of pitches and when he needed swing-and-miss or soft contact, I don’t think he had that tonight with his breaking ball and all of his secondary pitches.
“Unexpected tonight. Just overall, just wasn’t really good.”
It should not have been unexpected.
Gonsolin has underperformed all season, last year’s All-Star now sporting an ERA swollen to 4.98. But Friday was easily the worst start of his career, the 10 runs and five home runs both career-highs. He had never allowed as many as eight hits in a start until doing it in two of his past three starts (he gave up nine in six innings to the Padres).
The home runs to Jorge Soler (twice), Jacob Stallings, Jazz Chisholm and Jake Burger traveled a combined 2,042 feet, Soler’s 441-foot missile the longest of the lot.
Only seven times in franchise history has a Dodgers pitcher allowed five home runs in a game. Gonsolin is the first to do it since Don Sutton on May 7, 1973, against the Pirates.
Sutton recovered from his strafing to make the Hall of Fame. With a 7.51 ERA over his past 11 starts, Gonsolin’s future looks less rosy – and might not even include a spot on the Dodgers’ eventual postseason roster this season.
Roberts has made references for weeks now that Gonsolin was physically “not 100 percent” but was unable (or unwilling) to specify what ailed him. Gonsolin deflected most questions about a possible injury but acknowledged after Friday’s loss that he has been pitching through an arm issue for some time now.
“I can’t explain it,” Gonsolin said. “I don’t know what it is, exactly. But it’s more elbow than shoulder.”
Gonsolin missed the last five weeks of the regular season a year ago with a forearm strain but said this is different from that. His fastball velocity has dipped this season to 92.4 mph, about 1 mph lower than his career average, but Gonsolin said the arm ailment has affected the quality of his “stuff” more than his command.
Roberts said the Dodgers have not been close to putting Gonsolin on the Injured List with the issue. With the Dodgers’ starting rotation healthier than it has been in weeks, that decision might be different now.
“We feel he can still make starts obviously and he’s not going to hurt himself more which is the case,” Roberts said. “But that’s one part of it, which is the most important part. But the other part is you’ve got to go out there and perform. Even if you’re not 100 percent and you’re willing to take the baseball, wanting to and still not performing — then we as an organization have to make a decision.”
With the Dodgers’ three-game series against the Marlins now compacted to about 26 hours, Gonsolin’s ugly start Friday could force their hand.
“I think we’re going to kind of talk about it tonight. But it’s a performance game,” Roberts said. “I think there have been a couple good ones in there the last six weeks, but overall, just hasn’t been what we’re used to seeing from Tony. I don’t know the decision right now, but obviously we need coverage for tomorrow as well. We’ll see if something needs to be done.
“Tony is going out there and doing what he can. At times, his stuff is good. The fastball is good. But physically he’s not 100 percent. I think we’re going to circle up with Tony tomorrow and figure out if a blow, a break, getting away from this makes sense.”
Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara has had his own course correction this season. Last year’s National League Cy Young Award winner came into the game with a 5-10 record and an ERA over 4.00.
He gave up his share of home runs as well – solo shots to start three of the first five innings (Mookie Betts in the first, Max Muncy in the fourth and James Outman in the fifth) – but cruised to the victory.
The Dodgers piled up 10 hits (more than the Marlins) despite Freeman, Betts, Jason Heyward, J.D. Martinez and Will Smith all knocking off early, but they never threatened to get back in the game.
Among that group, Heyward’s exit was hastened by a sore hip he aggravated on a sliding catch in right field. Roberts said he was “day to day” and would be re-evaluated before Saturday’s day game.
Facing his former team, Miguel Rojas finished the game on the mound, pitching for the second time in his major-league career and retiring his former teammates in order on an arsenal that ranged from 44.7 mph to 71 mph.