Dodgers Open September With Ugly 13-8 Loss to Cardinals
The Los Angeles Dodgers spent much of the weekend talking about September as an opportunity to start fresh.
Their first game of the month looked far too much like the baseball they were trying to leave behind.
St. Louis jumped on Eric Lauer early, continued piling on against the Dodgers bullpen and handed Los Angeles a 13-8 loss Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium in the opener of a three-game series.
The defeat dropped the Dodgers to 82-56 and spoiled a night that began with several reasons for optimism.
Will Smith returned after nearly three months on the injured list.
Justin Wrobleski was activated.
Dalton Rushing returned.
Alex Freeland rejoined the Major League roster.
And after finishing August below .500, the Dodgers were finally back home to begin a nine-game homestand that appeared to offer an excellent opportunity to regain momentum. Los Angeles made all four returning or recalled players part of Tuesday’s game.
Instead, the Cardinals scored seven times in the first three innings and never really allowed the Dodgers back into the game.
For a club entering September with postseason seeding still unresolved, it was a rough way to begin the final month.
Eric Lauer’s Night Unravels Quickly
Lauer entered Tuesday having generally provided solid work since the Dodgers acquired him from Toronto in May.
This was different.
He finished with:
3 IP | 8 H | 7 ER | 1 BB | 2 K | 2 HR
The seven earned runs were the most he has allowed in an appearance for Los Angeles, and his three innings represented his shortest Dodgers start. The performance also stood out because Lauer had allowed more than three runs only twice in his previous appearances with the club.
The trouble began with two outs in the second inning.
Ramón Urías drove a 91 mph fastball over the left-field wall for a solo homer.
Thomas Saggese followed immediately with another solo shot, crushing an 87.5 mph cutter an estimated 415 feet to center field.
Two swings turned a scoreless game into a 2-0 Cardinals advantage.
The third inning was considerably worse.
St. Louis sent a steady stream of hitters to the plate, combining singles, a walk, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly into a five-run inning.
Iván Herrera drove in one run with a single.
Rookie catcher Leonardo Bernal collected the first hit of his Major League career with a two-run single.
Saggese added a sacrifice fly.
Nathan Church drove home another run.
By the time Lauer finally recorded the third out, the Dodgers were trailing 7-0. MLB’s game log confirms all five runs came during a relentless third-inning rally rather than another home-run barrage.
That distinction hardly made the scoreboard look any better.
Mookie Betts Gives Dodgers a Brief Opening
Los Angeles did respond in the bottom of the third.
And once again, Mookie Betts was in the middle of it.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs before Betts lifted a shallow fly into right field.
Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker charged in while second baseman José Fermín raced backward.
The two converged awkwardly, Walker slid in pursuit of the ball and Fermín was knocked off his feet.
The baseball dropped.
With two outs, all three Dodgers runners were moving on contact and all three scored before St. Louis could recover the ball.
Betts ended up at second with a bases-clearing double, cutting the deficit from 7-0 to 7-3.
It was hardly a conventional three-run double, but the Dodgers were not in position to be selective about how the runs arrived.
For a moment, the game looked alive again.
That feeling lasted only a few minutes.
Cardinals Answer Immediately
Lauer did not return for the fourth.
Dave Roberts turned to Seth Halvorsen, hoping the bullpen could keep the deficit manageable while the Dodgers offense attempted to work its way back.
Instead, St. Louis immediately created more separation.
Herrera reached before Jordan Walker crushed a two-run homer to center field.
The ball left Walker’s bat at 109.3 mph and traveled an estimated 409 feet.
Just like that, a 7-3 game became 9-3.
That became the recurring problem all night.
Every time Los Angeles showed the slightest sign of building momentum, St. Louis answered.
Betts Keeps Hitting
Betts continued doing his part.
In the fifth inning, he ripped another double — this time a much cleaner extra-base hit down the left-field line — to drive in another run.
His fourth RBI of the night cut the deficit to 9-4.
Betts finished 2-for-3 with two doubles, two walks and four RBIs.
Considering the broader offensive concerns surrounding Los Angeles over the past two months, his performance was one of the clearest positives Tuesday.
But one hot hitter could not overcome the problems on the mound.
Saggese homered again in the top of the fifth against Alex Vesia, giving him two long balls for the night and pushing the Cardinals into double digits.
The Dodgers were down 10-4.
Dodgers Pitching Allows Five Home Runs
St. Louis ultimately hit five home runs.
Urías hit one.
Saggese hit two.
Walker hit one.
Joshua Báez added another against Wrobleski in the seventh.
Four Dodgers pitchers surrendered at least one homer: Lauer, Halvorsen, Vesia and Wrobleski.
The only traditional reliever to escape without allowing a run was Kyle Hurt, who worked a clean sixth inning and struck out two.
The final pitching line made for ugly reading.
Lauer surrendered seven runs.
Halvorsen allowed two.
Vesia allowed one.
Wrobleski, making his first Major League appearance since returning from left forearm inflammation, was charged with three runs — two earned — across two innings.
He did strike out four, offering at least a glimpse of the swing-and-miss ability that made him an All-Star earlier this season. But his return was hardly the clean multi-inning relief appearance the Dodgers were hoping for. Wrobleski had been activated Tuesday with the expectation that he would work primarily out of the bullpen during the stretch run.
The Cardinals finished with 13 hits and 13 runs.
Will Smith Returns After Nearly Three Months Away
Tuesday did provide one genuinely important development.
Smith was back.
The Dodgers activated their starting catcher from the 60-day injured list earlier in the day after he missed nearly three months with an inflamed disc in his neck. Roberts has said the initial plan is to ease Smith back into catching duties rather than immediately asking him to catch every day.
His first game back was understandably uneven at the plate.
Smith made outs on balls in play during his first several trips before finally breaking through in the seventh inning.
He doubled home a run to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 11-5.
Smith added another RBI in the ninth when he grounded into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
He finished 1-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
For Los Angeles, the result of Tuesday’s game does not change the importance of getting Smith healthy again.
His value goes beyond his own offensive production.
Roberts specifically highlighted Smith’s experience, composure in the batter’s box and ability to manage the pitching staff when discussing what his return means to the club.
Those qualities will matter considerably more over the next month than one rough team pitching performance on his first night back.
Other September Reinforcements Get Their First Look
Smith was not the only returning player involved.
Freeland started and drew a walk while scoring a run.
Rushing appeared as a pinch hitter and struck out.
Wrobleski worked two innings from the bullpen.
The Dodgers activated all three players along with Smith earlier Tuesday as rosters expanded.
Freeland’s addition was particularly notable because Roberts had previously suggested Los Angeles was looking for another left-handed option. The Dodgers chose the switch-hitting infielder rather than promoting an outfielder such as James Tibbs III, at least for now.
Rushing is currently expected to contribute primarily as a hitter while continuing his throwing progression because of the partial UCL injury in his right elbow.
Those were meaningful roster developments.
They simply became background noise once the Cardinals built such a large lead.
Dodgers Score Three in the Ninth, but Damage Was Done
St. Louis added two more runs in the eighth to stretch its lead to 13-5.
By the ninth, the outcome was no longer seriously in doubt.
Roberts even used Kiké Hernández on the mound to finish the top half of the inning, a sign of how far the game had slipped away. Hernández worked a scoreless frame.
To their credit, the Dodgers did not completely shut down offensively.
They scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Tommy Edman drove in one.
Smith added his second RBI.
Kyle Tucker brought home another with a sacrifice fly.
The late rally produced the final 13-8 score.
It also made the margin look considerably more respectable than the game actually felt.
St. Louis had led by eight runs entering the bottom of the ninth.
The Cardinals were in control for almost the entire night.
Nine Hits and Eight Runs Don’t Tell the Whole Story
On paper, eight runs should usually be enough to win a Major League game.
That is why Tuesday should not automatically be filed alongside the Dodgers’ recent offensive struggles.
Los Angeles finished with nine hits, six walks and eight runs.
Betts drove in four.
Smith drove in two.
Edman had three hits.
The Dodgers were 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
There were still missed opportunities — Los Angeles stranded nine runners — but offense was not the primary reason the Dodgers lost this game.
The pitching simply put them in too deep a hole.
That makes Tuesday different from several recent defeats in which excellent starting performances were wasted by a lineup that could barely score.
Blake Snell struck out 10 while allowing one run Saturday in Detroit, only for Los Angeles to lose 2-1.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had similarly received little offensive support in Atlanta.
This time the Dodgers scored.
They just could not pitch.
A Rare Breakdown From the Rotation
That is another reason Lauer’s outing should probably be viewed as a poor individual start rather than evidence that the entire rotation has suddenly collapsed.
Before Tuesday, Dodgers starters had posted a 2.97 ERA over the club’s previous seven road trips, a top-five mark in the majors during that span, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Snell has been excellent.
Tyler Glasnow just threw seven innings of one-run baseball Sunday.
Tarik Skubal has given Los Angeles another frontline option.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto remains part of the postseason picture.
Lauer himself had been useful since arriving from Toronto.
He had temporarily moved into the bullpen before Roki Sasaki’s blister sent him back into the rotation.
Tuesday was simply the type of start contenders cannot afford very often in September.
Dodgers Miss Chance to Gain Ground
The loss carried additional weight because Los Angeles entered the night in a tight race for postseason positioning.
The Dodgers finished Tuesday at 82-56.
Atlanta also lost, falling to 82-57, so Los Angeles maintained a narrow advantage in the race for the National League’s second first-round bye.
Milwaukee, however, improved to 86-53, pushing the Dodgers 3½ games behind the Brewers for the National League’s best record.
First-Round Bye Race
Standings through Sept. 1, 2026
That is precisely why games like Tuesday matter.
The Cardinals entered the night below .500.
The Dodgers were at home.
Their roster had just received several reinforcements.
And with Milwaukee and Atlanta shaping the first-round-bye race, Los Angeles cannot afford to give away too many opportunities against teams it should be capable of beating.
One loss does not determine anything.
A pattern would.
September Reset Will Have to Wait Another Day
Sunday’s 6-1 win in Detroit had provided a potentially encouraging ending to a difficult August.
The Dodgers finished that month 13-14, their first losing month of the season. Roberts had expressed relief at the idea of turning the calendar and moving forward.
Tuesday was supposed to be the beginning of that reset.
Instead, the problems followed them home.
The good news is that this loss did not look exactly like many of the others.
Betts was productive.
The offense scored eight.
Smith returned and contributed.
The bench is deeper.
Wrobleski is healthy enough to pitch again.
Those are all meaningful positives.
But allowing 13 runs and five home runs erased every one of them.
The Dodgers have eight more games remaining on this homestand.
There is still plenty of time to turn the stretch into exactly the September launch they envisioned.
But after spending August searching for consistency, Los Angeles opened September with another reminder that championship talent means very little when only one side of the roster performs.
On Tuesday, the offense finally scored.
The pitching made sure it wasn’t enough.