Dodgers, Mota Struggle Again

The Dodgers seem to specialize in finding silver linings in the dark clouds that have hovered over them since the All-Star break, so in that vein, there was one bright spot to their 8-0 loss to the San Diego Padres before 26,779 in Qualcomm Stadium on Wednesday: They couldn’t be criticized for their performance with runners in scoring position.

That’s because the Dodgers did not have a runner in scoring position, failing to advance a runner to second base in eight innings against soft-serving starter Bobby Jones and one inning against reliever Brandon Villafuerte.

After collecting 13 singles in Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Padres and collecting eight runs and 11 hits in Tuesday night’s 8-6 win, the Dodgers were shut out for the 11th time this season, tying them with Kansas City and Tampa Bay for the most shutouts in the major leagues.

The loss, combined with San Francisco’s victory over St. Louis, dropped the Dodgers back into third place in the NL West. They fell 3 1/2 games behind first-place Arizona.

Phil Nevin broke open a two-run game with a three-run home run off struggling Dodger reliever Guillermo Mota in the seventh, and Ron Gant added a two-run blast off Mota to send the Dodgers to their 12th loss in the last 15 games.

The Dodgers managed five hits, and only two of them reached the outfield. Dave Roberts bunted for a single to lead off the game, and Brian Jordan hit infield singles in the fourth and seventh innings.

“No runners to second base ... that’s almost pitiful,” Roberts said. “I’m very surprised, because we’ve hit the ball well for the past week, and today we couldn’t get anything going.

“You want to build on something like [Tuesday] night, and instead we go in reverse.”

The Dodgers have won three games since the All-Star break, and after each victory, a familiar refrain emanated from their clubhouse: This was the game that would turn things around, the one that would build momentum.

But their 2-1 win over Arizona on July 14 was followed by five consecutive losses. Their 4-2 win over San Francisco on Saturday was followed by two losses. And after Tuesday’s win, the Dodgers were blanked for eight innings by a pitcher who hasn’t thrown a shutout in five years.

Jones, a control freak whose fastball tops out at 87 mph, gave up five hits, struck out four and walked none to improve to 7-5. Of his 103 pitches, 80 were strikes. Dodger left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii gave up three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings to fall to 12-6.

“We were unable to put any kind of offense together--that’s a phrase I’ve used a lot in the last 10-12 days,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “It’s going to be hard to win games with five hits, three of them infield singles. But we struggled like this to score earlier in the season, and at some point we will dig ourselves out again.”

A lack of hitting isn’t Tracy’s only concern.

The Dodgers believe they bolstered their offense with Tuesday’s acquisition of utility player Tyler Houston from the Milwaukee Brewers, but if they’re going to stay in the playoff hunt, they need to upgrade their bullpen.

Never was that more apparent than Wednesday, when Mota replaced Ishii in the seventh inning with one out, a runner on first and the Dodgers trailing, 2-0.

Mota, acquired in a spring-training trade with Montreal, has shown flashes of brilliance this season, including a seven-appearance stretch from June 27-July 14 in which he allowed only one earned run and two hits in 10 innings.

But he was bombed for four runs without recording an out Wednesday, walking Julius Matos, giving up a three-run home run on an 0-and-2 pitch to Nevin, walking Ryan Klesko and giving up a two-run homer on a 3-and-1 pitch to Gant, turning a two-run game into a seven-run rout.

Just a week and a half ago, it appeared Mota might move ahead of Paul Quantrill and Giovanni Carrara in the bullpen pecking order to become the Dodgers’ top set-up man in front of closer Eric Gagne.

But after giving up 10 earned runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings of his last six appearances, Mota has been even more erratic than Carrara, leaving the Dodgers with only one consistent, reliable reliever besides Gagne--Quantrill.

“Today is a great opportunity for [Mota] to learn something, because all of his pitches were to his arm side and up, which is typical for a guy who has pitched a lot,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said.

“You have to make an adjustment, and he isn’t experienced enough to recognize it.... We have various goals, and one is developing our young talent.”

But the heat of a pennant race may not be the best grounds for development, and that’s why General Manager Dan Evans’ search for relief help probably intensified Wednesday.