The Oakland A’s Tyler Soderstrom (37) goes yard on Los Angeles Dodgers pitching in the top of the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Soderstrom’s home run was one of two A’s runs for Thu Aug 4, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the third time in three nights. The A’s had won two out of three from the Colorado Rockies last weekend and hoped to show the Dodgers that they could compete with the big guys.

The Dodgers, the best team in the NL West, are gunning for their tenth NL West crown in the last eleven seasons. The Dodgers have talent up and down the lineup. Their two big bats, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman, performed well against the A’s.

Freeman was unstoppable. Freeman, who hails from Southern California, had two doubles and a home run against the woeful A’s Thursday night. In the series, Freeman had ten hits in fourteen tries. Somehow, the A’s pitching did retire him twice in Thursday’s game. Freeman led the Dodgers to an easy 8-2 win to give the Dodgers a three-game sweep.

The A’s starter J.P.Sears pitched well for his five innings of work. Sears allowed six hits and two runs. He threw 95 pitches in his five innings pitched. The Dodgers starter Julio Urias was better. The Dodger lefty also pitched five innings Thursday night. His line was five innings, three hits, and no runs allowed. Urias won his eighth game this season. 

The Dodgers plated this first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Back-to-back doubles by Kike Hernandez and Miguel Rojas gave the Angelinos an early 1-0 lead. The Dodgers made it 2-0 when they put another run on the board in the third.

With one out, Sears walked Max Muncy. Sears struck out Chris Taylor for the second out. The versatile Kike Hernandez, playing center field Thursday night, worked Sears for a walk. Miguel Rojas then doubled to drive in Muncy. It was Rojas’ second double of the night and second RBI.

The A’s scored a run in the top of the sixth. Rookie second baseman Zack Gelof hit a solo homer just inside the foul pole in left field. For Gelof, it was his fifth dinger of the season. The A’s trailed 2-1 midway through the sixth.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay brought in righty Lucas Erceg to pitch the sixth inning. To say Erceg had a rough outing would be an understatement. The first two hitters he faced, Austin Barnes, and Mookie Betts, singled.

The next hitter was the toughest out in the Dodger lineup, Freeman. To everyone’s surprise in the ballpark, Erceg struck out Freeman for the first out. The next hitter, DH Will Smith, singled to shallow centerfield to drive in Barnes, Betts went to third, and Smith went to second on the throw home.

Second baseman Amed Rosario doubled to right field to drive in Betts and Smith. Ramon Laureano’s throw to third base got by A’s third baseman Jordan Diaz. Rosario advanced to third on the error. David Peralta, pinch-hitting for Muncy, singled to drive in Rosario with the fourth run of the inning to give the Dodgers a 6-1 advantage. 

The A’s rookie Tyler Soderstom, playing first base, blasted his first Major League home run in the eighth to make it a 6-2 game. However, the Dodgers scored twice in their half of the eighth. Freeman led off the eighth with his 22nd homer of the year. Freeman had two doubles earlier in the game, leading all of baseball with 40 doubles. The A’s pitcher, Zach Neal, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Las Vegas, walked Jason Heyward. Taylor doubled to drive in Heyward with the Dodgers’ eighth run. LA wins 8-2.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s are now 30-80. The Dodgers improved to 62-45. The Dodgers lead the Giants by 2 and 1/2 games in the race for the NL West crown.

The hitting star of the game was Freeman. Freeman had three hits Thursday night and ten hits in the series. He raised his batting average to about .339 for the year. He has 22 homers and 40 doubles. He has to be considered a leading candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

The only bright spots were Gelof and Tyler Soderstom. Each rookie hit a solo home run.

The line score for Oakland was two runs, five hits, and two errors. LA’s line was eight runs, 14 hits, and no errors.

The Dodgers outscored the A’s 25-6 in the series.

The A’s sent pitcher Hogan Harris down to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. The A’s designated Tyler Wade for assignment.

The A’s are off on Friday. Oakland will host the San Francisco Giants for two games this weekend. A’s fans are planning a reverse boycott for Saturday’s game. The A’s have not announced their pitchers for the weekend series.