Dodgers Waste Sheehan Gem in Bullpen-Fueled Collapse

A loss counts the same in the standings whether it comes by one run or thirteen. The math is democratic that way.

But not all losses feel the same.

Some losses are filed away by the seventh inning and forgotten by breakfast. Others linger, not because of what they do to the record, but because of how thoroughly they manage to escape your grasp.

Friday night belonged in the second category.

For six and a third innings, this looked like the night Emmet Sheehan fully announced himself. The young right-hander, still trying to settle into his season, turned in his sharpest start yet — 10 strikeouts, one walk, and a near-flawless 6⅓ innings that carried the Dodgers to a 4–0 lead. His fastball had life, his secondary stuff had bite, and for once the conversation around Dodgers pitching seemed headed somewhere pleasant.

Then the seventh inning arrived and, as has occasionally happens to bullpens, it developed ideas of its own.

After a single by Moisés Ballesteros, Alex Vesia entered and initially appeared ready to bridge the game toward the finish line. Instead, a walk to Pete Crow-Armstrong opened the door, and Dansby Swanson promptly kicked it off its hinges with a two-run triple that sliced the lead to 4–2. The next batter, Nico Hoerner singled, scoring Swanson and the Cubs closed the gap, 4-3.

Just like that, comfort became tension.

The Dodgers had a chance to answer in the bottom half, and nearly answered themselves right out of momentum. Andy Pages — perhaps inspired by the fly ball that had earlier glanced off his glove and turned into Swanson’s triple — tried stretching a double into a triple of his own and was thrown out. Hyeseong Kim then lost a hit to a pinball deflection and a barehand gem by Hoerner, and Shohei Ohtani struck out to end the inning.

Opportunity knocked.

The Dodgers did not answer.

Blake Treinen took over in the eighth and Alex Bregman tied it with one swing. By the ninth, Tanner Scott found himself dealing not only with hitters but with the full Pete Crow-Armstrong experience — part baserunner, part chaos merchant, part Broadway audition.

Crow-Armstrong singled, danced around first base as if trying out for Dancing with the Stars, and moments later Swanson launched a distracted Scott’s mistake over the left-field wall.

Cubs 6, Dodgers 4.

And just like that, a game the Dodgers had led from the first inning had become a lesson in how quickly a lead can disappear.

It was a particularly cruel turn because Sheehan had done everything the Dodgers could have asked. He looked poised, confident, even restored. The kind of outing that gives a young pitcher back some of what baseball inevitably takes.

And it vanished behind him.

That, more than the score, was the sting.

The bigger concern is this no longer feels isolated. The Dodgers bullpen has allowed 20 runs over its last 18 innings, which is less “high leverage relief corps” and more public experiment.

Meanwhile, the lineup has picked an inconvenient time to go cold. Teoscar Hernández has 2 hits in his last 28 at-bats. Shohei Ohtani is 2 for his last 20. Andy Pages is 4 for 27.

Those aren’t numbers making the rest of the league lose sleep.

Credit the Cubs too. Winners of ten straight don’t usually arrive there by accident, and Chicago kept leaning until the game tilted.

But this felt more surrendered than stolen. And that is what made it hurt.

Because yes, every loss counts the same.

But some losses count twice in your head.

Friday felt like one of those.