Stone 'just a little off' in Dodgers' loss to D-backs

LOS ANGELES -- In a first half of the season that has included some ups and downs for the Dodgers, Gavin Stone has been one the best surprises for Los Angeles, establishing himself as a key member of the rotation as a rookie.

With his impressive start to the season, Stone should be in consideration to earn his first All-Star Game selection when full teams get announced. On Wednesday, however, Stone wasn’t at his best, allowing four runs over three innings in the Dodgers’ 12-4 loss to the D-backs at Dodger Stadium.

“Those guys, I think tonight you’ve just got to give those guys credit,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “From the first hitter all the way to the ninth hitter, I just thought they took good at-bats against him. He had nothing to really put them away. Overall the location wasn’t there.”

Stone was fresh off the first shutout of his career in his last start against the White Sox. In that start, Stone had everything going, showing more like the pitcher the Dodgers have enjoyed for the majority of the 2024 season.

In this start against the D-backs, it was clear from the beginning that Stone didn’t have the same quality stuff and command, something that hasn’t eluded him much over the last two months. Over his previous six starts, Stone had allowed a combined seven runs.

On Wednesday, he allowed a quick run in the first inning. Then in the third, after being spotted a three-run lead by the offense, Stone struggled and allowed three runs in the frame, capped off by a Gabriel Moreno game-tying two-run homer.

“Yeah, that’s really it, just executing pitches early in counts. That’s the biggest thing,” Stone said. “But honestly, I felt good, just a little off.”

Even with the off night, Stone has been a revelation for the Dodgers this season. He leads Dodgers starters in ERA (minimum 10 starts), even with Wednesday’s results. More often than not, Stone has also given the Dodgers plenty of length to help out the bullpen.

“For him to get through [three] innings was a grind,” Roberts said. “But he’s been big for us all year long. We can’t expect him to be perfect every time out.”

Though the Dodgers expect Stone’s production to continue over the next three months, Los Angeles continues to evaluate its starting rotation moving forward. With Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler all on the injured list, the Dodgers have struggled to put together some consistency in the rotation.

With the four runs allowed by Stone on Wednesday, the Dodgers’ starters have a 4.66 ERA since Yamamoto went down with injury on June 15. They came into Wednesday’s game ranked 16th in ERA over the same span.

“We just drew dead tonight after that first inning,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers’ offense was also held quiet for most of the night. It all got started off with a bang as Freddie Freeman got the offense going with a three-run homer in the first. Teoscar Hernández quickly followed with a homer of his own to give the Dodgers the early 4-1 lead.

After that, the Dodgers got almost nothing going offensively, recording just three hits the rest of the way. The D-backs ended up scoring 11 unanswered runs, led by Christian Walker’s two-homer game.

In a game that ran for more than three hours, there weren’t many positives for Los Angeles.

“I looked up and it was 9:15, and it was like the fifth inning,” Freeman said. “I was like, 'Whoa.’ [It felt] like pre-pitch clock. But yeah, just a longer game. Wish we would have won it.”