LOS ANGELES _ Pedro Baez interrupted his throwing as the uninvited object approached his view. Baez had spent about five minutes loosening up inside the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen, waiting for the signal from Manager Dave Roberts to replace starter Kenta Maeda. Before the call arrived, Baez craned his neck upward to watch Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado demolish a baseball in his general vicinity.
The three-run home run landed several feet to Baez's left, near the top of the left-field pavilion. The blast evicted Maeda from the game in the fifth inning and proved conclusive in a 4-1 defeat. The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Dodgers and reinforced Maeda's continued struggles beyond the 75-pitch mark.
To give up a home run to Machado, one of baseball's finest talents, is no travesty. But the predictability of the outcome was difficult to shake. In his rookie season, Maeda looks masterful at the start of games. As the outings continue, he becomes vulnerable to a frightening extent.
Unlike Monday evening, when the offense overcame a rocky performance by rookie Julio Urias, the Dodgers could not compensate for Maeda's lapses. He exited with no outs in the fifth and four runs on his ledger, which forced the bullpen to handle the final five innings.
The bullpen has shouldered a sizable load during this recent upswing by the team. That reality is unlikely to change. With Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list, the Dodgers do not feature a starting pitcher who can reliably account for seven innings. Thus the bullpen will continue to wear the strain.
For now, the formula works. But as the season progresses, the team would hope the starters can handle more of the responsibility. Maeda has yet to figure out how to do so.
The Dodgers rested third baseman Justin Turner and inserted Trayce Thompson into the third spot in the batting order. In the first inning, Thompson saved a run for Maeda. Thompson leaped and hit the center-field wall to snag a drive off the bat of Machado, who roped a slider with a runner at second.
About three hours before the game's first pitch, Corey Seager learned he had received an invitation to his first All-Star game. In his first at-bat, he demonstrated why he merited a spot on the team. Seager poked a 91-mph fastball from Baltimore starter Chris Tillman for a double to the opposite field.
The hit extended Seager's hitting streak to 18 games. He scored two batters later, when Adrian Gonzalez dunked a single into left field. Seager showed no hesitation as he rounded third.
Baltimore evened the score in the second. Maeda walked the leadoff hitter, outfielder Mark Trumbo, before yielding a single to catcher Matt Wieters. The next batter was second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who hit a flare into right. Yasiel Puig flashed arm strength to force out Wieters at second, but Trumbo trotted home from third.
Maeda needed to practice evasion to quell the Orioles lineup. He also needed some good fortune.
With two men on and two outs in the third, he hung a curveball to Orioles slugger Chris Davis, the man who led the American League in homers in 2013 and 2015. Davis could manage only a flyout to center this time.
An inning later, Maeda watched Wieters and second baseman Jonathan Schoop crack singles. He steadied himself to strike out shortstop JJ Hardy and Tillman to strand two more runners.
After four innings, Maeda had recorded 73 pitches. He was approaching a threshold that renders him imminently hittable.
Before 75 pitches, batters entered Tuesday hitting .181 against him. After 75 pitches, he served up hits at a .348 clip.
Maeda could not buck this trend. A leadoff single by outfielder Adam Jones started his downfall. Maeda walked another outfielder, Hyun Soo Park. Baez started to warm up as Maeda labored.
With Machado at the plate, a member of the Dodgers coaching staff exited the dugout. It was not Roberts, coming to make a pitching change. It was pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, coming to speak with Maeda.
Maeda concentrated on pounding strikes low and inside to Machado. Maeda fouled off a changeup and a fastball to start the duel. But Maeda could not put him away. The seventh pitch of the at-bat was another curveball over the middle. Machado crushed it.
Maeda waited for Roberts to ask him to leave. He departed, once more unable to stay viable beyond the early stages of a game.
