Dodgers’ bullpen coughs up another lead in loss to White Sox

LOS ANGELES – June gloom continues to hang thickly over the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Held scoreless for five innings, the Dodgers took a two-run lead in the sixth inning only to have their unreliable bullpen allow six runs in the final two innings, blowing another lead in an 8-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox Wednesday night.

The Dodgers added a blown fuse to the blown lead. A power outage plunged the stadium into darkness for a few seconds before the bottom of the ninth inning.

When the lights came back on, they revealed a bullpen with a 4.90 ERA this season. Only the epically-awful, bags-packed Oakland A’s have been worse this season.

“It’s very frustrating, and they have to do better,” a clearly irritated Dave Roberts said after the game.

“It’s not workload. It’s not the wrong lanes or the right lanes. It’s they need to be better. Period.”

There are precious few signs of that happening. Dodgers relievers have been charged with 33 runs in 43 1/3 innings this month.

“It’s very deflating,” Roberts said of being unable to protect leads. “Clayton (Kershaw) pitched his ass off, competed, didn’t have a whole lot as far as stuff. Gutted his way through six innings. One inning, his last inning, he had to get five outs. We took a lead and we gave it away.

“Can’t lose that game.”

Kershaw was less than his best but still left after six innings with a 4-2 lead. The left-hander gave up six hits, walked the No. 9 hitter (Elvis Andrus) twice but only gave up the two runs on solo home runs by Jake Burger and Luis Robert Jr., holding the White Sox to 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.

Yency Almonte protected the lead with a hitless seventh. But Roberts sent him back out for the eighth inning. Almonte has gotten more than three outs in an appearance just three times this season and no more than four.

He didn’t get any after the seventh against the White Sox. Eloy Jimenez led off the eighth with a double to right and Jake Burger bounced a fly ball high off the left field foul pole for his second home run of the night, a game-tying two-run shot.

“They told me I had two more batters and I knew it was two righties coming up,” Almonte said. “I knew in my head I had to go out there and get them out.

“I missed it. It was a slider up and in (to Burger). You don’t throw sliders up and in.”

Roberts right-hander Evan Phillips — the Dodgers’ designated not-a-closer — was available, according to Roberts. So was Brusdar Graterol who eventually pitched in the eighth. But he said he sent Almonte back out for a second inning because he had retired the side on just 10 pitches in the seventh.

“It wasn’t two innings. It’s an up-down. When you throw a handful of pitches and then you’re gonna get two hitters, it’s not two innings,” Roberts said. “Considering what he did, it’s a no-brainer. It just didn’t work out.”

Roberts said using Graterol in the eighth with Phillips saved for the ninth was a consideration.

“Yup. I did (consider that),” Roberts said. “But we throw four pitches or five pitches (actually 10 in the seventh) and then you’re gonna go out there and get two hitters — I don’t think that’s a big ask.”

Alex Vesia replaced Almonte and hit the first batter he faced, Andrew Benintendi. He struck out Yasmani Grandal but threw a wild pitch that allowed Benintendi to move into scoring position.

Vesia got ahead 0-and-2 against Clint Frazier but couldn’t finish him off. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Frazier singled to center field, driving in the go-ahead run. Graterol came in and got out of the inning.

But Tayler Scott and Victor Gonzalez combined to give up three more runs in the ninth on four more hits.

“We have to use the guys we have,” Roberts said. “That’s how we go forward. And they have to be better.”

The Dodgers have spent the past month trying to out-hit their pitching problems. Over their 24 games before Wednesday, they had averaged 6.2 runs per game and were held under five just five times.

They couldn’t do it Wednesday despite facing White Sox starter Mike Clevinger who had a 9.69 ERA in three starts for the Padres against the Dodgers last season.

Clevinger allowed just one hit through four scoreless innings before giving up back-to-back singles to start the fifth. He was on his way to working out of that jam, getting back-to-back first-pitch foul pop outs from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

“Very surprising. You have the guys you want at the plate and we didn’t get it done,” Roberts said. “I thought we were in a good spot right there. They can’t come through every time. They’ve done plenty for us on the offensive side.”

Clevinger got ahead of J.D. Martinez 1-and-2. But after his 77th pitch of the night (fouled off by Martinez), Clevinger shook his pitching arm awkwardly and crouched behind the pitcher’s mound in obvious discomfort. Clevinger (who missed the 2021 season recovering from Tommy John surgery) left the game, escorted by a trainer. The White Sox announced the preliminary diagnosis as a biceps injury.

The White Sox lead disappeared along with Clevinger. The Dodgers scored four times in the sixth inning aided by some poor defense by the White Sox and a two-run single by Betts that gave them the lead.

But that was the last hit of the night for the Dodgers.

“I think you can look at it two ways,” Kershaw said philosophically. “Obviously, losing’s no fun, especially late in games. It’s obviously a challenge. But we continue to fight and put ourselves in position to win games. So I think the optimist has to say that it’ll turn and we’ll start winning these games.

“But, yeah, it’s definitely a challenge to lose late. No doubt.”