Dodgers, Hernandez can't overcome early Ramirez errors
LOS ANGELES - Dodgers manager Don Mattingly has tried to minimize the negative impact Hanley Ramirez's declining defense at shortstop can have on the outcome of games by routinely replacing him in the late innings.
It was too late by then Tuesday night. Ramirez committed two errors in the second inning, leading to three unearned runs and the Dodgers lost to the San Diego Padres, 6-3.
The Dodgers loss and a win by the second-place San Francisco Giants trimmed the Dodgers' lead in the NL West to 2½ games.
'Well, we lost by three and we gave away three,' Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said. 'Obviously, that's what hurt us.'
The game was scoreless with two outs in the second inning when a routine grounder to his right went under Ramirez's glove and into left field. The next three batters had hits off Dodgers starter Roberto Hernandez. A single by Alexi Amarista was followed by a two-run double from Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner. Ramirez misplayed the relay throw on Cashner's hit for another error that allowed him to move to third base. Cashner scored on another two-out hit, a single by Cory Spangenberg.
Ramirez has committed 16 errors in 102 games at shortstop this season. Only two National League shortstops have committed more and both (Washington's Ian Desmond and San Francisco's Brandon Crawford) have played at least 30 games more than Ramirez.
'We've been playing this way all year,' Mattingly said of hoping Ramirez's offense will offset his defensive shortcomings. 'He made an error tonight. He made a costly one tonight.
'This is what we've been doing - trying to get offense from that spot. He's a guy that can do it. He gets four hits last night, drives in a couple runs. It just happened to be a costly one tonight. And so it looks bad.'
It must have felt especially bad for Hernandez. The right-hander retired just one of the six Padres batters that followed Ramirez's first error, giving up two singles, a double, a walk to start the third inning and a long two-run home run by Jedd Gyorko for five runs in all.
Hernandez lasted just three innings and has now allowed 17 runs in 18 1/3 innings over his past four starts. If there is a competition for the fourth spot in a potential playoff rotation - and Mattingly insists that evaluation has not begun yet - veteran right-hander Dan Haren (4-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his past six starts) is opening a large lead over Hernandez.
'I've really tried to do the same thing - be ahead of hitters, stay ahead of hitters,' Hernandez said through an interpreter. 'I've tried the same approach. I'm not really sure what's going on.
'Right now, it's a very difficult situation. But there's nothing I can do but try to put this start behind me and survive the situation.'
Cashner held the Dodgers scoreless until a two-run home run by Adrian Gonzalez in the sixth inning, his fourth home run in the past four games. Justin Turner drove in a ninth-inning run with a pinch-hit single.
Contact the writer: bplunkett@ocregister.com
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