The Dodgers failed to win their fourth consecutive series by dropping the final game of a three game series against the Royals on Sunday. Kansas City managed to maintain their momentum from Saturday night’s game by continuing to put runners on base while capitalizing on RBI opportunities. Meanwhile, the Dodgers struggled to manufacture runs and managed to collect merely six hits compared to the Royals’ 15 hits at the plate. For Kansas City, the victory against Los Angeles clinched the first series win for the struggling ball club since mid-May against San Diego.

Here are three takeaways from the Dodgers loss:

Royals rake off Dodgers’ pitching

Tony Gonsolin started on the mound for the Dodgers and looked to have a quality start after struggling in his last two appearances. Unfortunately for Gonsolin, the Royals lineup would knock him out of the game after only 3 2/3 innings. Kansas City scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second, after Maikel Garcia singled to bring Drew Waters home to take a 1-0 lead. Gonsolin then walked Bobby Witt Jr. to load the bases, but escaped the jam after retiring Salvador Perez on a dribbling ground out. The Dodgers responded by tying the game in top of the fourth, but once again found themselves down in the home half of the inning. After Gonsolin walked Waters and gave up a single to center field off the bat of Kyle Isbel, the Royals had runners on the corners with no outs. The number nine hitter, Nicky Lopez, then stepped to the plate and laced a double to right which plated both runners for a 3-1 Kansas City lead. Lopez then scored on a Witt Jr. single to extend the Royals’ lead 4-1 over the Dodgers. Witt Jr.’s single ended the day for Gonsolin, and despite the fact that the Dodgers’ bullpen entered Sunday with the best ERA in the MLB through the last 11 games, the runs continued to pile on for the Royals. Back-to-back doubles in the fifth for M.J. Melendez and Waters off Dodgers’ relief pitcher Victor Gonzales added another run to Kansas City’s lead. Gonzales then walked Isbel to put two runners on, which allowed Lopez to hit a second RBI single to score Waters. The Royals then managed to extend the lead to 7-1 on Witt Jr’s sacrifice fly to right before Gonzales baited Nick Pratto into a groundout to end the inning. In the sixth, Kansas City added two more insurance runs against Yency Almonte before cruising to an easy 9-1 victory. For the Royals, most of the offensive production came from the bottom of the order, with Lopez’s four RBIs playing a big role in Kansas City’s win.

Singer silences the Dodgers’ bats

In August 2022, Royals’ starting pitcher Brady Singer helped shutout the Dodgers in a 4-0 victory as he struck out seven in six innings of work on the mound. On Sunday, Singer turned in another impressive outing against Los Angeles by tossing seven innings while allowing only one earned run and four hits. Overall, the Dodgers struggled to hit with runners in scoring position and scored their only run on a sacrifice fly from Miguel Vargas to tie the game in the fourth. The one bright spot for the Dodgers offensively was David Peralta’s 3 for 4 performance, extending his hitting streak to eight games.

Dodgers go .500 on road trip

With Sunday’s loss, the Dodgers finished their road trip with a record of 3-3. Having faced the second and third worst teams in Major League Baseball, failing to achieve a winning record on this particular road trip is a disappointing result for a ball club looking to separate themselves in a close race for the NL West title. The Dodgers will now host the Pittsburgh Pirates (39-44) and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (44-41) in a home stand before heading into the All-Star break.

The Dodgers will look to bounce back from Sunday’s loss with a victory against the Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Monday at 7:10 pm PST.