The Dodgers’ 11-1 loss to the Padres on Tuesday night was a tough watch. LA went to a bullpen game (again) and put Lou Trivino on the mound to set the table for Matt Sauer, a minor league signing from the offseason who has already been optioned and recalled four times this season as a part of the Dodgers’ reliever carousel.
Trivino pitched a clean first inning (well, clean enough after he hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch), and then Sauer got out of the second inning without much trouble. And then things got bad.
The Padres scored three runs off of Sauer in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, then four more in the sixth before Dave Roberts finally took mercy on him and yanked him — only to replace him with Kiké Hernández to take care of the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense could hardly get a hit off of Dylan Cease, who put on a clinic; seven innings, zero runs despite five walks, and 11 strikeouts. The only thing that kept them from being shut out was a Michael Conforto RBI single in the eighth.
