ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers opened their weekend at Busch Stadium with a 7–2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night, their third straight defeat and eighth loss in their last 13 games. At 20–12, the record still reads strong. The trend line does not.
This one unraveled almost immediately and in ways that felt avoidable.
With two outs in the first inning, back-to-back singles put pressure on right-hander Emmet Sheehan. Then came the first crack: a throwing error by Will Smith that skipped into the outfield, moving both runners into scoring position. Sheehan appeared poised to escape anyway, but baseball has a way of punishing even brief lapses.
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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan (80) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning at Busch Stadium.
Two pitches into his at-bat against Nolan Gorman, Sheehan changed his windup mid-sequence without alerting the umpire crew, a balk. A run scored without a hit. Moments later, Gorman made sure the inning wouldn’t be remembered for quirks alone, launching a two-run homer into the right-field seats.
Just like that, it was 3–0. And the Dodgers were chasing.
They briefly showed signs of life in the second. Andy Pages singled, and Max Muncy followed by drilling a double off the center-field wall, scoring Pages from first. Muncy, now with 11 hits in his last 10 games, has been one of the few steady sparks during this uneven stretch.
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Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy (13) celebrates after hitting an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium.
But momentum never took hold.
Alec Burleson answered in the third with a solo home run, the second long ball surrendered by Sheehan on a night when his fastball lacked its usual life. It sat 92–93 mph, down again, and dipped as low as 89mph, a career low. For a pitcher who relies on that pitch to set the tone, it mattered.
“I’ve just got to have better execution,” Sheehan said afterward.
His final line was as puzzling as the outing itself: 4 2/3 innings, eight hits, four runs, no walks and eight strikeouts. The swing-and-miss was there. The command, situationally, was not.
The Dodgers’ best chance to swing the game came in the sixth against Matthew Liberatore. Freddie Freeman singled, Smith and Teoscar Hernández walked, and the bases were loaded with one out. Kyle Tucker delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 4–2, but that was all they would get.
They finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. In this recent 5–8 stretch, they’ve scored four runs or fewer eight times. It’s not complicated: that formula doesn’t win games.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals kept adding on. In the seventh, Jordan Walker capped a perfect 4-for-4 night with a two-run triple off Edgardo Henriquez, part of a three-run inning that put the game out of reach. A fielder’s choice later brought home the seventh run.
And then there was Shohei Ohtani. After reaching base in 13 of his previous 19 plate appearances, he went 0-for-5. The Dodgers’ engine stalled, and there was no one to restart it.
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Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) at bat against the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth inning at Busch Stadium.
That’s three straight losses now. A strong April has given way to a more uneven reality, one where pitching inconsistencies, defensive lapses and situational hitting all intersect on the wrong side of the ledger.
They’ll turn to Roki Sasaki on Saturday, needing not just a win, but something steadier to lean on. Because right now, the margin for error feels thinner than it did just a week ago, and the Dodgers are finding out how quickly that can matter.