Tony Gonsolin struggles again and Dodgers lose series to Royals

A third straight shaky start by Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin set the table for Sunday’s 9-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Kauffman Stadium, where the Dodgers lost two of three games in the series to a team with the second-worst record (25-59) in baseball.

Gonsolin was a National League All-Star during his breakout 2022 season, when he went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 24 starts. Though his 4-3 record and 3.69 ERA in 12 starts this season seem respectable, Gonsolin hasn’t looked nearly as sharp or as dominant as he did in 2022, especially in his last three starts.

Gonsolin gave up four runs and six hits in 3 ⅔ innings Sunday, striking out three and walking three, and has given up 15 runs and 17 hits, struck out 13 and walked seven in 14 ⅓ innings of his last three games — the other two were against San Francisco and Houston — for a 9.42 ERA and .304 batting average against.

Gonsolin looked decent through three innings Sunday, giving up one run and three hits, including Maikel Garcia’s RBI single in the second, and the velocity of his fastball, which averaged 92.8 mph, was up a tick from its 92.2-mph season average.

But things unraveled quickly for Gonsolin in the fourth, after the right-hander, clearly upset with a ball-four call on Drew Waters to open the inning, exchanged words with and gestured with his arms wide open toward home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.

Kyle Isbel followed the walk with a single to center, and No. 9 batter Nicky Lopez hit a two-run double to right field to give the Royals a 3-1 lead. Lopez took third on Garcia’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI single to right for a 4-1 lead.

Salvador Perez grounded to shortstop for the second out, but with the left-handed-hitting Nick Pratto coming up, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Gonsolin, his pitch count at 81, in favor of left-hander Victor Gonzalez.

Gonzalez got Pratto to fly to center to end the fourth but was roughed up for three runs in the fifth, a rally that MJ Melendez and Waters opened with doubles for the first run. Isbel walked, Lopez hit an RBI single to center, Garcia reached on an infield single, and Witt Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to right for a 7-1 lead.

An error by shortstop Mookie Betts paved the way for the Royals to score two unearned runs off reliever Yency Almonte in the seventh. The game was so lopsided that infielder Yonny Hernández pitched the eighth inning for the Dodgers, yielding one hit and no runs.

The Royals racked up 15 hits and went eight for 20 with runners in scoring position. The bottom four batters in the Royals order — Melendez, Waters, Isbel and Lopez — combined to go seven for 16 with three doubles, three walks, a hit batter, nine runs and five RBIs.