Dodgers see chances float away by the bay

Asked to explain the inexplicable Saturday night, Russell Martin of the Dodgers could have invented some theory, made up some reason, maybe even pointed to his horoscope.

Instead he took the high road, throwing up his hands and pleading ignorance.

“I don’t know,” Martin said. “There’s not really a reason.”

How, he was asked to explain, could the Dodgers get so many men into scoring position yet get only three of them home? How could they get hits from eight of their nine starters -- and the ninth guy reached base twice, being walked and hit by a pitch -- yet get only two hits that drove in runs?

How, in short, could they get nine walks and 11 hits and put runners on base in every inning Saturday yet still lose to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 4-3?

“Because it’s baseball. There’s not much you can say,” Martin said.

“It’s just one of those things,” added Juan Pierre, whose eighth-inning liner toward right field was speared by first baseman Carlos Pena, turning a potential score-tying double into an unassisted double play. “As a hitter you try to hit the ball hard and you can’t really control where it goes. It’s frustrating.”

You want frustrating? Try this:

* The Dodgers loaded the bases in three innings but came away empty-handed each time.

* Of the nine walks the Dodgers received, they cashed in only one.

* And they left the tying run in scoring position in each of the last two innings, with Jeff Kent striking out to end the eighth inning and Luis Gonzalez striking out to end the game. All told, the Dodgers left a season-high 15 runners on base, stranding five on second base and four on third. And it would have been worse had they not hit into three double plays.

Which inspired Manager Grady Little to try his hand at an explanation.

“It makes it more understandable why the game turned out the way it did,” he said. “That is too many people to leave on base and think you might win a game.”

The loss dropped the Dodgers to third place in the National League West, half a game behind front-runners Arizona and San Diego.

The Devil Rays were hardly an example of efficiency, but two of their 10 hits against starter Randy Wolf did clear the fences -- Akinori Iwamura’s leadoff home run in the first inning and Dioner Navarro’s leadoff home run in the seventh -- and that proved to be the difference.

Until Saturday, Wolf (8-6) had done a good job avoiding the long ball, giving up two homers in his previous 10 starts.

“That’s what happens when you leave the ball up to guys that can hit,” Wolf said.

And although his teammates had a number of chances to get him off the hook, Wolf refused to blame the offense.

“My only frustration is with how I threw,” he said. “It’s not like I threw a no-hitter.”

Nor did Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir, who needed 116 pitches to get through six innings, yet wound up with nothing to show for it. But although Kazmir, who gave up seven hits, walked five and hit a batter, was easy to bend Saturday, Martin said the Dodgers couldn’t quite break him.

“He just got tougher when guys got on base. There’s not much you can say,” he said. “It seemed like he started throwing strikes when the bases were loaded.”

And that, said Martin, who left four men on base, two of them in scoring position, will lead to a little self-examination.

“It’s always tough when you have guys in scoring position and you don’t drive them in,” he said. “I had plenty of opportunities tonight to do some damage and I just didn’t do it. You’ve got to look at yourself sometimes and just make adjustments. That’s what baseball is all about, making adjustments.”

Well, there’s that. But scoring runs is helpful too.

“I don’t think anybody is going to leave here very happy tonight,” Little said. “But we have to get over it and get back at it tomorrow.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com