Dodgers’ offensive woes continue in walk-off loss to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers’ offensive woes went from worrisome to a five-alarm emergency Saturday when they lost their second game in less than 24 hours, falling 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Nolan Gorman started the winning rally with a ground-rule double in the ninth. He gave way to pinch-runner Jose Barrero, who moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Pedro Pagés before scoring on Nolan Arenado’s pinch-hit single off Dodgers reliever Ben Casparius (4-1) to end the game.

The Cardinals appeared to have won the game in the eighth when Alec Burleson hit a one-hop comebacker that ricocheted off Casparius with two outs. Casparius chased after the ball and made a hurried throw to first that pulled Freddie Freeman off the bag, allowing Masyn Winn to race home.

But the Dodgers matched that in the ninth on consecutive one-out singles by Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. Freeman then struck out swinging, but the ball got away from catcher Pagés, allowing Ohtani to score to tie it.

The Dodgers left 12 runners on base and were hitless in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They are one for 25 with runners in scoring position in their two games in St. Louis.

The slump couldn’t come at a worst time for the Dodgers, who begin a three-game series Monday in San Diego. The Padres entered Saturday a game back of the Dodgers in the National League West.

The Dodgers wasted a splendid performance from starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who yielded four hits while striking out nine in six scoreless innings, lowering his earned-run average to 2.20.

No Japanese pitcher has ever led an American major league in ERA; the Cubs’ Yu Darvish came closest when his 2.01 mark in the COVID-shortened 2020 season was second-best in the National League. Only two NL pitchers have better marks than Yamamoto this season.

The right-hander won four ERA titles in seven seasons with Orix in the Japanese Pacific League. Only Kazuhisa Inao, who debuted in 1956, won more. Three times Yamamoto had ERAs under 1.69 and his career mark in Japan was 1.72 in 188 starts.