#Dodgers rookies Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May struggle in Game 2 loss

ARLINGTON, Texas — As the Yankees exhibited rather memorably and painfully earlier this month, once you start getting creative with your starting pitchers in the postseason, it can be hard getting the toothpaste back in the bottle.

The Dodgers are experiencing a similar phenomenon, and they got toothpaste all over the place, metaphorically speaking, on Wednesday night at Globe Life Park.

The Rays evened this World Series by outlasting the Dodgers, 6-4, in Game 2. A resurgent Tampa Bay offense, led by its regular-season most valuable player Brandon Lowe, touched four different Dodgers pitchers (of the seven who took the mound) for at least one run apiece.

Most notably, the Dodgers deployed two of their rookie arms — Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May — in unconventional roles after both had worked almost exclusively as traditional starters during the regular season.

“I still believe in them. They’ve got to make pitches,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the young duo. “They’re going to need to get big outs for us.”

They didn’t get enough Wednesday without encountering trouble. Gonsolin, who recorded a 2.31 ERA in nine regular-season appearances, eight of them starts (and none of those short enough to qualify as “opener” outings), gave up a solo homer to Lowe in the first inning and recorded just four outs before departing. He had thrown two innings in Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 7 after starting and losing Game 2.

“I wasn’t really great today,” Gonsolin said. “My execution could’ve been a lot better.” He blamed an ineffective slider, usually his top breaking pitch.

May followed Dylan Floro (no outs in 1 ¹/₃ innings) and Victor Gonzalez (one run in one inning) in the fourth, and the man nicknamed “Gingergaard” (because of his long red hair that resembles Mets starter Noah Syndergaard’s flowing mane of blonde hair) immediately allowed an inherited runner to be charged to Gonzalez’s account before letting in one of his own as Manuel Margot singled and Joey Wendle doubled. Then in the fifth, he gave up Lowe’s second homer, a two-run shot.

This marked May’s sixth appearance of the postseason, none of them conventional starts, after he spent most of the regular season as a conventional starter. To be fair, the Dodgers did introduce him to the “bulk” relief role in September. Regardless, May now has allowed at least one run in three straight appearances.

“We still need those guys to get important outs for us to win this thing,” Roberts reiterated, and how they’re asked to get those outs could prove crucial.