Emotions run high in LA, but bats go quiet

LOS ANGELES -- It was the moment Dodger fans waited nearly two years for: The Astros were back at Dodger Stadium and it was their chance to finally let Houston know how they felt following the cheating scandal.

52,692 fans were packed in at the ballpark, the largest crowd in an MLB game this season. Nearly all of them booed as loud as they could, especially when Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa came up to bat. Some even did so while wearing trash can costumes, while others wore “Astroisk” foam fingers. In between the boos, six inflatable trash cans made their way onto the field. For some, the hostile environment inside Dodger Stadium helped serve as some sort of closure.

One thing that was missing, however, was the Dodgers’ offense, which didn’t give the eager crowd anything to cheer about in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss. It was the second time in five games the Dodgers were shut out.

• Box score

“I thought the fans were outstanding tonight,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “It was great to see a capacity crowd. A lot of energy. Just wish we could’ve gotten a win for them.”

It was the first time this season that the Dodgers trotted out the lineup they envisioned when they built their roster back in February. AJ Pollock, the Dodgers’ hottest hitter, was batting eighth. Mookie Betts and Corey Seager were back in the lineup. None of that mattered against Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr.

McCullers silenced the Dodgers’ offense for 6 2/3 innings and controlled the game from the start, allowing just three hard-hit balls.

“McCullers, I think he’s their ace,” Roberts said. “He’s had a fantastic year, great competitor, makes pitches. I thought [catcher Martín] Maldonado did a really nice job with him using a couple different breaking balls. The fastball was 92-93 [mph] and then he could get it to 96-97. I just thought he did a great job of mixing tonight and we couldn’t put anything together.”

The Dodgers’ best chance to score came in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with two outs for Max Muncy, who has been the team’s best hitter this season. But Astros manager Dusty Baker went to the lefty Blake Taylor, who struck out Muncy to end a nine-pitch battle.

In the eighth, Cody Bellinger represented the tying run, but he went down looking against Astros right-hander Kendall Graveman. The Dodgers went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

“There are a couple of pitches that I think we would like to have back,” Roberts said. “But that’s the game of baseball.”

Walker Buehler continued his excellent season, doing everything he could to keep the Dodgers in the game. He allowed just one run and struck out five over six innings of work. Buehler didn’t have the same command he’s shown throughout most of the year, but he was still able to get through at least six innings for the 21st time. However, with the offense struggling, Buehler’s quality start wasn’t enough.

“It’s a playoff game in terms of how it feels and sounds out there,” Buehler said. “It’s a big game for us, obviously there’s a lot of emotion in that clubhouse. But we need to play good baseball to win games and I didn’t put us in a position to go and do that, so it was disappointing for me, to say the least.”

With the loss, the Dodgers wasted another opportunity to pick up a game on the Giants, who lost to the D-backs, 3-1. Mookie Betts said the club needs to do a better job of playing with consistent urgency. That’s particularly true now that the Dodgers find themselves 3 1/2 games behind the Giants in the National League West with just 54 games left to play.

The offense is finally starting to get healthy. They’ll also get their first look at Max Scherzer on Wednesday. The fans will be back at the stadium ready to boo the Astros once again. They’re also hoping to cheer, something they weren’t able to do much of on Tuesday.

“You can tell the fans are still unhappy about all that happened. They were fired up,” said Dodgers catcher Will Smith. “It made it a fun atmosphere today. But unfortunately, we didn’t win for the fans tonight and we let that one get away. We’ll be back out there tomorrow.”