Cardinals, Lance Lynn too tough for Dodgers in 7-0 loss

Seems it was a bad night for grit and fight.

Certainly Friday didn’t offer much for left-hander Chris Capuano, or for Dodgers news, unless you count another loss. Suppose you have to.

The Dodgers went ever so meekly against the Cardinals and right-hander Lance Lynn, managing only three hits in a 7-0 loss before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 45,134.

Before the game there were plenty of news conferences and holding of hands, but no actual developments. Manager Don Mattingly remained unscathed, right fielder Andre Ethier returned to the lineup and team President Stan Kasten reaffirmed his commitment to the manager.

All that was left for the Dodgers was to go out, play hard and validate Mattingly’s call to toughness with a victory over the Cardinals.

Alas, the Cardinals entered Chavez Ravine with the best record in baseball and then went out and played like it. The Dodgers, of course, entered as the last-place team in the National League West and played like that (read: with no offense).

The Cardinals scored once in the second inning, twice in the third, once in the fifth, twice in the sixth and once more in the seventh.

With Lynn in complete command, it didn’t seem like a fair fight. Ouch, there’s that word.

Lynn raised his record to 7-1, throwing 77 pitches in his six innings. He gave up only two hits and a walk while striking out nine.

Capuano, meanwhile, struggled with his command, a costly problem against the Cardinals. He lasted five-plus innings, surrendering six runs on six hits and three walks. Two of the hits were of the home run variety, a solo shot by Allen Craig and a make-it-rain, two-run homer by David Freese. Nope, not a fair fight.

The loss dropped the Dodgers seven games back in the NL West.

The Dodgers’ only hits were a leadoff single by Carl Crawford in the first inning, when he was thrown out attempting to steal, a double by Juan Uribe in the third and an infield hit by Skip Schumaker in the eighth.

At least the anemic offense meant they didn’t further inflate their lousy average with runners in scoring position, because they only gave themselves two opportunities all night.