PHOENIX -- Austin Barnes took off his mask and had a few words for home-plate umpire Lance Barrett after getting ejected. Barnes, unhappy with the strike zone all afternoon, uncharacteristically showed his frustrations out in the open. 

It served as a fitting summary of the same level of frustration the entire Dodgers team was feeling after a forgettable weekend in the desert that ended with an 11-6 blowout loss against the D-backs on Sunday at Chase Field. 

The Dodgers lost five games to the D-backs in 19 games last season. They’ve matched that total of losses through eight meetings in 2023. 

“The last couple of days, it’s easy to see we didn’t pitch well,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I believe that these guys are going to turn things around, figure it out. But it’s hard to kind of overanalyze what we did today, or these last couple of games, with run prevention. We just didn’t pitch well.” 

Like Roberts said, the Dodgers' inability to consistently get outs was what doomed them this weekend, which is surprising given how good the staff has been over the years. Clayton Kershaw struggled on Friday, allowing four runs over six innings. Noah Syndergaard and the bullpen carried those struggles into Saturday, allowing a combined 12 runs on 17 hits.

On Sunday, it was Michael Grove who couldn’t find it on the mound. The young right-hander allowed nine runs on 12 hits over 3 1/3 innings of work. Of those 12 hits, seven were singles, and the D-backs stole four bases off Grove. He allowed at least one run in all four innings he started. 

“I got hit,” Grove said. “You know, credit to them. They barreled up the ball a lot and they didn’t go at anybody. So it’s just one of those days. Not a ton to take away from it right now, but watch some film and get back after it.” 

As a pitching staff, the Dodgers allowed 29 runs during the current three-game losing streak and 31 over the four-game series. That’s a much different effort than the four-game set at Dodger Stadium to start the season, when the Dodgers’ pitching staff limited the D-backs’ offense to just seven runs.

The Dodgers had a similar three-game stretch last season against the Phillies from May 12-14, also allowing 29 runs during that span. But it’s only the ninth time in the last 15 seasons the Dodgers have allowed this many runs over three games.

“Very uncharacteristic,” Roberts said. “I think I can look at last year, and it’s a different ballclub for sure. But it’s kind of reminiscent of that Philadelphia series at home, where they just put up a bunch of runs on us and everything they hit found a hole. We got through it, we got past it and we’ll do the same this time, too.” 

Lack of pitching wasn’t the only problem for the Dodgers on Sunday. In the second inning, center fielder James Outman trotted to a Jake McCarthy routine single and softly threw the ball back into the infield. That lackadaisical approach helped McCarthy take second on the play and later come around to score on a Jose Herrera two-run single. 

“He’ll learn from that one,” Roberts said. “I think he took it for granted that it was just gonna be an easy single, and he took second base on him. I don’t think that’ll happen again for James.”

As for Barnes, the backup catcher admitted he was frustrated with the strike zone but didn’t want to get into specifics as to what got him ejected. He did concede, however, that he shouldn’t have gotten tossed because it forced starter Will Smith to catch the last three-plus innings of the game in what was supposed to be his off-day. 

“Obviously the game wasn’t going our way,” Barnes explained. “It was just a little frustrating not being able to get our pitchers through some of those innings. But I can’t get thrown out there, especially on a day off for Will.” 

There were a lot of uncharacteristic things about the Dodgers’ weekend. It certainly wasn’t the 10-game stretch they wanted to open the season with, finishing with a .500 record thanks to their struggles against the D-backs, a team they've dominated for years.

“I think today,” Roberts said, “we got beat in every facet.”