Dodgers beginning pitcher Tony Gonsolin leaves the sport within the fifth inning in Sport 2 of the NLCS at Globe Life Area in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)

The Dodgers trailed by seven runs at one level Tuesday. There may be not a lot sense in scrutinizing the anatomy of a blowout.

However, for the Dodgers, there’s something extremely painful about this one-run defeat, and never simply because the Atlanta Braves are midway to the World Collection.

The Dodgers’ 8-7 loss in Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Championship Collection compelled an in depth examination of the fifth inning. In a sport they rallied and finally misplaced by one run, that was an inning through which they gave up 4, amid a collection of questionable selections.

Tony Gonsolin, the Dodgers’ beginning pitcher, was making his first look in 17 days. The Dodgers appeared to react slowly as he misplaced command.

He breezed by way of the primary three innings, 9 up, 9 down, on 28 pitches. He wanted 33 pitches to flee the fourth inning, giving up two runs, a stroll and two hits — together with Freddie Freeman’s house run — to place the Dodgers in a 2-Zero gap.

The Dodgers hoped Gonsolin might final yet one more inning, dealing with the underside of the Braves’ lineup.

Austin Riley struck out, however on a full rely. Nick Markakis walked on 10 pitches, and the tv cameras confirmed reliever Blake Treinen dashing to prepare. Cristian Pache smashed a full-count fastball into the left-field nook, with Markakis scoring for a 3-Zero lead.

Gonsolin mentioned fatigue had not set in, however he had misplaced sharpness on his slider and splitter.

“I used to be attempting a bit of bit too arduous to make it overly nasty,” he mentioned.

At that time, Gonsolin had made 22 pitches to a few batters, with a three-ball rely on all of them. The Braves’ lineup flipped to the highest. The Dodgers had taken care this season to keep away from utilizing Gonsolin on a 3rd journey by way of the lineup.

With a 2-Zero deficit, Roberts mentioned, he might need summoned Treinen. With a 3-Zero deficit, he didn’t.

“To consider bringing one in every of your highest-leverage relievers within the fifth inning, in a three-run deficit sport, it simply doesn’t make sense,” Roberts mentioned.

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Neither did asking an erratic Gonsolin to face Ronald Acuna. Gonsolin threw one strike, then 4 consecutive balls, one in every of which bounced exterior the left-handed batter’s field and one other of which sailed past the left-handed field. Acuna bats right-handed.

That introduced up Freeman, the Braves’ greatest hitter, with two house runs in his first six at-bats within the collection. The scenario begged for Adam Kolarek, the Dodgers’ left-handed reduction specialist. Though Kolarek had been warming up, the Dodgers turned to right-hander Pedro Baez.

Had there been two outs as a substitute of 1, the Dodgers might need summoned Kolarek, hoped he would retire Freeman to finish the inning, then used Baez to start out the sixth inning. Nevertheless, the brand new three-batter rule would have required Kolarek to face Freeman and the following batter, the right-handed Marcell Ozuna.

“You’re put in a tricky spot with that three-batter rule,” Roberts mentioned.

In got here Baez, who gave up a single, two walks and a sacrifice fly. By then, the Dodgers trailed 6-0. They finally misplaced by one run, after Kolarek gave up one run in a mop-up inning.

This begs the query of why Kolarek is on the roster within the first place.

The Dodgers appeared good for together with him on their roster final October, not less than by way of the primary three video games of the division collection towards the Washington Nationals. Kolarek had one objective: to neutralize the Nationals’ greatest hitter, Juan Soto, who bats left-handed.

In Sport 1, Kolarek struck out Soto. In Sport 2, Kolarek bought him to floor out. In Sport 3, Kolarek struck him out once more.

Kolarek confronted no different batters. Nevertheless, within the decisive Sport 5, the Dodgers bypassed him twice: within the eighth inning for Clayton Kershaw, who gave up a game-tying house run to Soto; and within the 10th for Joe Kelly, who walked Soto forward of Howie Kendrick’s game-winning grand slam.

If all of the Dodgers actually belief Kolarek to do that October is to retire a left-handed batter for the third out of an inning, that’s fairly a luxurious, even on a 15-man pitching workers. And, whereas Yogi Berra may not have heard the time period ‘excessive leverage,’ he would know learn how to impart it to the Dodgers proper now: It’s getting late early on the market.

This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.