Dodgers Team News

Joe Kelly Takes Loss as Dodgers Drop Game 4-2 to Giants

Joe Kelly hasn’t hit a flattering stride in a Dodgers uniform after blowing a 2-0 lead in his second outing as he recorded the loss in the Dodgers 4-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Solo home runs from Chris Taylor and Alex Verdugo in the fifth inning were the start to day five of the Dodgers’ home run party, after the bats on the both sides of the diamond kept quiet in the first half of the game. For Taylor, it was his second hit in the game and season after starting the year 0-9 at the plate.



After the Giants tied the game 2-2 in the seventh, Scott Alexander’s matchup against Brandon Belt didn’t play out according to the Dodgers’ game plan. With runners in scoring position, Belt smoked a line drive to center that gave the Giants a 4-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Silent bats against San Francisco

Monday’s game was night and day compared to the Arizona Diamondbacks series where the Dodgers scored 42 runs. The two runs scored against the Giants’ Drew Pomeranz and bullpen staff was nowhere near the 10.5 run/game average the Dodgers levered in the first four games of the season. Leaving 10 runners stranded on the base paths against the Giants didn’t help the offensive push, either.

Before Kelly took the bump in the sixth inning, Julio Urias was in line for his sixth career-win after he pitched five shutout innings in his first start since the 2017 season. Urias’ seven strikeouts, no walks and no runs on three hits were erased with Kelly giving up a single to former teammate Pablo Sandoval as it tied the score 2-2 in the seventh.

Despite the loss to their rivals, a silver lining moving forward for the Dodgers is the future of Urias. His command and pitch movement fooled the Giants all night long.

It’s early in the season, but the Dodgers’ bullpen has caused the most trouble for the hot-hitting Los Angeles team.

Next up

Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-0, 1.50 ERA) faces Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 2.57 ERA) on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium at 7:10pm PST.

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24 Comments

  1. Once again, Urias shows us he is ready to take a permanent spot in the STARTING rotation. Once again, Roberts let’s us know that he does not intend to let him have one. And then what does Roberts also tell us after the game? “With (Kelly), it doesn’t matter lefty/righty,” Roberts said. “His stuff, he gets both out consistently. … I felt great with Joe in that spot.” Well Dave, I didn’t and still don’t. Kelly and Baez are not getting it done. Take a look around you Dave, give someone else in the bullpen a chance, Kelly has been in the center of both your losses. Baez and Kelly have become “let ’em pitch to one batter” guys. They cannot be trusted to hold leads.

    1. I agree w you vluz1st about Kelly but please rethink your comments aboht Roberts and Urias. Do yoj really think Roberts has decided how to use Urias all by himself? No, it’s an organizational decision, mostly Kasten, Friedman, Honeycutt, medicsl staff, trainers and Roberts. Look wha t the Angels did w Heaney. He csme back from TJ and pitched 180 innings and his elbow is sore and they shut him down!

      1. total crap!! Roberts is the worst coach i have ever seen. he has consistency taken out pitchers who were pitching no hitters, and who have been dominating games out. He also has kept his bullpen pitchers in no matter how there velocity or command is thinking they would figure it out.

        he is stubborn beyond belief, and if you have noticed, we have lost all those games he has had to actually Manage!!! dodgers are good because we have the best players and team, but were losing the big games because we have a terrible stubborn manager!!!

      2. My point was this…….Roberts does not seem to be able gauge his pitchers very well…….Sure the organization as a whole is protecting Urias from injury…….I know that……but what he (Roberts) should be telling everyone is “I want Urias in the starting rotation as much as possible, but we will have to limit his total usage to X number of innings” Using Urias in the rotation instead of Stripling would allow him (Roberts) to use Stripling, Stewart, Ferguson or Alexander in the exact long role he thrust Kelly in last nite. Kelly is not a long role guy……I think Stripling/Stewart/Ferguson are better choices for coming in during middle inning/long stint like that situation last nite. Kelly (to me) is a face one batter face two batters kinda guy, putting Kelly right back out there last nite in a crucial role after he just failed to hold a lead against Arizona last week was stupid. it was only the 6th inning……..I get it…….the bullpen is OUR weakness and none of the options seem great, but when the things you tried just LAST week failed (Kelly), try something different and see if you can improve the outcome, then adjust from there. He pulls Ferguson and Alexander when they are pitching well after one or two batters ALL the time, drives me nuts, then expects Kelly and Baez to face six or seven hitters.

  2. Where are all those shills that said we had world class pitching this year? Haven’t heard from you guys lately. The rotation is fine for now but that bullpen is hot garbage, not gonna be able to win tight games with that, the offense can’t score 10 runs a game they’re gonna have to win these low scoring tight games so far they’ve blown both

  3. If your only letting your starters go 5 innings, no matter how good they are, then the bullpen has to be that much better. and ours isn’t close to that level of good. It’s early in the season but Gonsolin, Allie and May would do better than we’ve seen so far from the bullpen.

  4. Again I don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction but I recall from reading(on Red Sox sites) that their fans also were Not impressed with Kelly(in the 2018 regular reason) but stepped-it-up in the ’18 playoffs and obviously against the Dodgers. I don’t know how aggressive the Red Sox were in going after both Kelly and Kimbrel(their closer).

  5. GLP is correct, but I will go further. Kelly is the wrong guy for the Dodgers, still costing them losses, and Freidman is a (expletive deleted ) idiot for signing him. We cannot stand another season of relievers blowing leads and ruining the efforts of real pitchers, i.e starters.

      1. They are useful lackeys/shills for them. They aren’t going anywhere unless they suddenly get fed up with being that. The money is good though

        1. Then unfortunately, the Dodgers won’t a WS. I remember when the Lakers had Leslie Niellsen, I mean Del Harris trying to coach Shaq & Kobe, and they couldn’t get it done(win a championship). The Lakers ownership brought-in Phil Jackson and his lieutenants aka Chicago Bulls West and viola! I’m not sure if there is a baseball equivalent that could be brought in to get the Dodgers on that road though?

          1. The difference is the Lakers brass was in it for championships which is why they made a move like that. There probably is an equivalent to that but they won’t do it because they don’t want someone like a Phil Jackson who won’t follow their way

  6. We cannot get rid of Freidman, whose style of building a baseball team seems entrenched for now. Roberts is Freidman’s puppet and has used this stupid line before in post-game comments defending his decisions – “I feel good with (whoever just lost the game) in there.”
    Well, Dodger fans DO NOT feel good, Dave. One player who fails to do his job and earn his excessive salary is killing the whole team, which should be 5-0 so far.

    1. I can tell you one guy who wouldn’t have kept trotting Kelly out there and that’s Bochy. He’s no puppet he’s the last of his kind. Once he’s gone Zaidi will hire a puppet of his own and the Giants will never win another championship just like us

        1. One more inning out of Urias would’ve been perfect. Or like bluz said use Ferguson on nights where guys are being limited. Puppet boy is trying to hard to get Kelly right. Putting him in the exact same situation isn’t the way to do it

    2. Not sure we know what friedmans style of building a baseball team is. He inherited
      Almost the whole team. He has contributed little to this roster in his 4 years and there isn’t much coming up from the farm.

      1. Hello Gordon60. Did you notice how obviously Roberts did his usual platoon lineup thing AGAIN and got the usual results? I said it before but I see the Giants sweeping this series and maybe the whole season series from the Dodgers because all they have to do, and believe me Zaidi knows this, is throw the LHP at the Dodgers in both starting and relief and the Giants are assured easy victory.

  7. Roberts does not seem to have any feel for the game/instinct and there is no way Kelly should have pitched last night. The front office is horrible — to let Morrow walk because he wanted $11 million and sign Kelly to 3 yr $25 million was very stupid. This is such a waste of talent…very sad.

  8. I figured the Dodgers would struggle offensively and a lot of it is on roberts and his platooning lineup. when game ended last night they showed Roberts walking away in total disappointment but I TOLD YOU ALL SO…..the team once again showed, with a couple of exceptions last night that they could and would not handle the LHP of the Giants and honestly, if Dodgers get swept by the Giants it would serve Andy and Roberts right for the way they are once again managing these lineups…..

  9. There has got to be something seriously wrong with Andy and Roberts for bringing in Baez, who has been nothing so far BUT A HUGE BUST by tanking so far in games he’s been in, along with Kelly, who I expected just a bit more from. Doing things the same way over and over and over and over and over again expecting different result just has not worked folks and if this continues forget even getting to October baseball because a team WILL NOT win without a solid BP

  10. What is the FO thingking about???? Baez and Kelly will double-handedly put our team in a bottom dwelling position. Bring Gonsolin back up, and anyone else who has the possibility of serving in the BP. We have been dreadful. The platooning speaks for itself!!! And Roberts, if I remember correctly, said he would cut back on platooning players. Maybe he meant for the 2020 season. Go Blue!!!!

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