Snyder Is a Royal Pain for the Dodgers

The Dodgers have had more than their share of one-run losses this season. Few have been as forgettable as the 2-1 interleague defeat they suffered against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday before a meager 23,677 at Dodger Stadium.

Royal starter Kyle Snyder, who had lost his last three starts and had not pitched during a Kansas City victory in six appearances, combined with relievers Jason Grimsley and Mike MacDougal on a three-hitter. Two of the hits were infield singles.

“He just threw a great game,” Shawn Green, hitless in four at-bats, said of Snyder, who picked up his first major-league victory. “He had a good sinker, good curveball and threw strikes.”

Hideo Nomo pitched nearly as well as Snyder, giving up two runs over eight innings while registering a season-high nine strikeouts. But Angel Berroa, a light-hitting shortstop who had three home runs entering this series, homered for the second consecutive night as the Royals won on Manager Tony Pena’s 46th birthday.

The Dodgers (32-25) dropped to 12-10 in one-run games and fell four games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.

The Royals scored both of their runs on solo homers, the 12th and 13th Nomo has yielded this season in 13 starts. Carlos Beltran homered into the right-field pavilion in the second and Berroa drilled a ball into the Dodger bullpen in left field in the fifth.

“They were mistakes,” Nomo said of the split-fingered fastballs blasted by Beltran and Berroa. “I wasn’t able to throw the pitches I wanted. If I was able to hold them to one run, maybe we had a chance.”

Nomo (6-6) gave up seven hits, the most he has allowed since giving up nine in a loss to San Diego on April 15, while being saddled with his second consecutive defeat. In his six defeats, the Dodgers have combined to score just eight runs.

“I don’t know in the history of the game if there is a better guy with a 6-6 record,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said.

Nomo’s seventh strikeout gave him 1,043 as a Dodger, moving him into 10th place on the club’s all-time list. He also recorded the 1,700th strikeout of his career.

But the game belonged to Snyder, who retired the first 10 Dodgers he faced before Paul Lo Duca singled with one out in the fourth, extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games.

Lo Duca also drove in the Dodgers’ run, in the sixth. Dave Roberts reached on a two-out infield single and scored on Lo Duca’s double to right to trim Kansas City’s lead to 2-1.

“He threw the ball well as far as I could see,” Tracy said of Snyder, a rookie. “He mixed in a curveball with his changeup and utilized the fastball from both sides of the plate. He’ll be around for a while if he stays healthy.”

Grimsley entered in the seventh and pitched two perfect innings, striking out four, and MacDougal retired the Dodgers in order in the ninth to record his 13th save.

“When you’re playing in games like this one, like we seem to be night after night, occasionally you’re going to get beat,” Tracy said. “We just have to do what’s necessary knowing that if we’re going to be in another one like this, we’re going to have to find a way to win. We did the best we could with one run.

“We just collectively need to put pressure on the opposition.”

The Dodgers have averaged just 2.8 runs over their last eight games.