LOS ANGELES — Neither the return home nor the reunion with old friends made much of a difference for the Dodgers on Tuesday night.
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While the offense continued to slumber, the new twist is that the starting pitching failed to bring any comfort in a 13-8 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals that opened a three-game series, a nine-game homestand and the final month of the regular season.
September was supposed to bring a sense of urgency for the two-time defending World Series champions, whose 209 runs scored in July and August were the fewest in the major leagues. Their .689 OPS in August was 20th in the major leagues.
The return of three-time All-Star catcher Will Smith from a nearly three-month absence because of neck inflammation is expected to help. But in his first game back Tuesday it was more of the same for a team that went 13-14 in August after going 13-11 in July.
Smith did have two RBIs in his return, while Mookie Betts drove in four runs with a pair of doubles.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts remains confident a double World Series hangover can be cured, although the usual home remedies remain ineffective.
“I do kind of tend to give guys more leash given what they’ve done and looking at how they can handle a potential big moment in the postseason,” Roberts said. “That’s important, until I can’t (give it).
“Every day is a test. You got to keep evaluating and I expect as the calendar is turned, the intensity to kind of ramp up even more.”
The only team with intensity from the outset Tuesday was the Cardinals. While the Dodgers (82-56) added four players to their major league roster, all with major league experience, the Cardinals (69-70) made three additions and two of them had never played in a big league game.
In building a 7-0 lead by the third inning, St. Louis rookie catcher Leo Bernal had a two-run single on his first major league hit while playing in his first major league game.
St. Louis started its uprising against Dodgers left-hander Eric Lauer with back-to-back home runs from Ramon Urias and Thomas Saggese in the second inning.
Bernal’s two-run single was part of a five-run third inning for St. Louis. Ivan Herrera and Nathan Church added RBI singles and Saggese had a sacrifice fly for a run as the Cardinals took a 7-0 lead.
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Lauer (8-7) never made it to the fourth inning in the worst of his 12 starts and 14 appearances for the Dodgers since being acquired in a May trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. Lauer allowed seven runs on eight hits and a walk in his three innings.
The Dodgers’ offense delivered three runs in the bottom of the third when Cardinals second baseman Jose Fermin and right fielder Church were unable to converge on a Betts blooper that went for a bases-clearing double.
But the Cardinals’ offense was right back at it in the fourth against right-hander Seth Halvorsen when Jordan Walker hit a two-run home run for a 9-3 advantage. Saggese hit his second of the game in the fifth off Alex Vesia. Saggese entered the game with six career home runs in 134 games.
Betts added an RBI double in the fifth for his second game of at least four RBIs this season.
Joshua Baez added the Cardinals’ fifth home run of the game in the seventh against left-hander Justin Wrobleski. The five homers tied St. Louis’ season high.
Smith’s double in the seventh gave him his first RBI since May 29.
As if the Cardinals’ home runs were not enough, they scored two more times in the eighth inning on a walk to Saggese, a Kiké Hernandez throwing error, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly. It was that kind of night.
Hernandez was on the mound in the ninth inning and ended up as two of the six Dodgers pitchers who did not allow a run. Smith had a run-scoring fielder’s choice during the Dodgers’ three-run ninth inning.
After going 4 for 27 (.148) on the six-game trip to Atlanta and Detroit, and 6 for 45 (.133) over his past 11 games, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was 1 for 2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.
The Dodgers remain confident the new month and a slight change in the thermometer means more offense is on the way. But one day into September, the wait continues.
“I think that the guys can see the finish line,” Roberts said. “We’ve played a lot of baseball, like everyone has. For me, it’s just honing in on the mental mistakes. Throughout the year, there’s been some baserunning and then some empty at-bats that we got to get better at, whether it be non-situational, situational and just tightening some things up because we got to get better.”
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More to come on this story.