WASHINGTON — Mookie Betts got most of the day off Wednesday. The Dodgers’ offense took the whole day.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had postponed giving the red-hot Betts a day off but finally rested him Wednesday. After scoring 19 runs in the first two games against the Washington Nationals with Betts in the lineup, the Dodgers managed just six hits and no runs in a 1-0 loss.
Betts struck out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, ending his streaks of 12 consecutive games with a run scored and six consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit. Cody Bellinger and Will Smith didn’t start Wednesday either.
The combined effort of Nationals starter Erick Fedde and three relievers was the first shutout of the Dodgers since Aug. 29 last season against the Colorado Rockies, ending a streak of 73 games without being blanked that was MLB’s longest active streak before Wednesday.
Both teams flirted with scoring a run in the first five innings but never fully committed.
Chris Taylor led off the second inning with a double but was stranded at third. Trea Turner walked and stole second in the third but went no farther.
Hanser Alberto led off the fifth with a double but made a bad baserunning decision, bolting for second on Austin Barnes’ ground ball to shortstop. Alberto was an easy out at third.
The Nationals only had two baserunners through the first four innings (both on walks). One was erased in a double play, the other on a pickoff and Urias faced the minimum 12 batters.
In the fifth, Nelson Cruz broke up Urias’ hitless run with a fly ball over Alberto’s head in right field that bounced off the wall for a double. Cruz moved to third on a ground out but was stranded there.
The Nationals finally ended the exchange of zeroes in the bottom of the sixth inning. The first three batters in the inning reached against Urias on a walk, a bunt single and an RBI single by Cesar Hernandez.
The Dodgers got the tying run into scoring position with one out in the eighth and ninth innings.
In the eighth, Trea Turner singled (extending his hitting streak to 17 games) and stole second. But Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked, Justin Turner popped out and Edwin Rios struck out.
In the ninth, Max Muncy drew a one-out walk and went to second on Gavin Lux’s single. But Bellinger (who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth) flew out to center and Smith (who entered on defense in the eighth) flew out to the wall in right.
The Dodgers finished the day 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
