Fans regularly leave Dodger Stadium early during game days to beat the traffic outside. But on Tuesday, their patience ran out as the Los Angeles Dodgers surrendered thirteen runs to the St. Louis Cardinals. It became the Cardinals’, who have a 95% chance of not making it to the playoffs, mark their highest-scoring game against a team that has less than a 1% chance of no playoffs. LA fans did not wait to see the home team’s humiliating loss.
With the team already trailing by multiple runs in the late innings, the Dodgers fans knew the outcome.
The Dodgers suffered a lopsided 13-8 loss to the Cardinals during the series opener. The Cardinals out-homered the defending World Series champions, five to zero. As the pitching imploded, with Eric Lauer taking the mound, the Dodgers surrendered the most runs they have allowed this season.
The last time they gave up 13 runs was on June 7, when they lost to the Los Angeles Angels 13-5. With their latest loss, Dodgers Nation posted a video of several fans leaving the stands around the 7th inning.
“Fans were leaving Dodger Stadium early last night after the Dodgers gave up 13 runs,” wrote the Dodgers Nation on X.
For the first time since the Dodgers acquired him, Lauer looked like the old, struggling pitcher the Blue Jays designated for assignment.
Across 3 innings, Lauer allowed 7 earned runs on 8 hits, including two back-to-back home runs. He also surrendered 5 runs in the third inning by only allowing singles, walks, and hit-by-pitches.
Lauer was pulled early, but the Dodgers relievers failed to stop the bleeding.
Taking over in the fourth, Seth Halvorsen allowed a two-run homer to Jordan Walker, who is also this year’s Home Run Derby champion. In the next two frames, Alex Vesia and Justin Wrobleski each allowed solo shots to Thomas Saggese and Joshua Baez.
The Cardinals were leading 11-5 at the end of the seventh inning. By then, fans had started to leave from both sides of the ballpark. The visuals looked like a synchronised exit from the stadium, all in white and blue.
Reportedly, the minimum ticket price for this game ranged between $29 and $45. For fans, that’s too much to sit through the whole game.
New to the reliever role, Wrobleski continued throwing in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff walk to Saggese, who later scored on a wild pitch, while Nathan Church advanced to third. In the next at-bat, Church scored on Jose Fermin’s sacrifice fly, making it 13-8.
It marked the Cardinals’ highest-scoring game at Dodger Stadium, including the playoffs.
According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, “This is the Cardinals’ 337th game at Dodger Stadium, including playoffs. 13 runs are the most they’ve scored at the venue. It’s their most runs in a game AT the Dodgers since scoring 15 on 5/30/60 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Before that, they hadn’t scored 13+ at Dodgers since a 1954 game at Ebbets Field.”
Many Dodger fans didn’t wait to witness the shocking loss to a below .500 team. But this isn’t the first time that disappointed fans have left the field.
In May, when the San Francisco Giants took two out of three games (9-3 and 6-2) against the Dodgers, several fans abandoned the home team both times. While not every fan does that, the tendency to leave because the home team is losing was not well received across social media.
“Absolutely. I stay till the end no matter the game situation,” wrote one fan on X. Another user also agreed, “I stay till the Game is over regardless if my team is winning or losing.”
But after entering the All-Star break as the National League’s top team with 60 wins, the Dodgers have encountered some cracks and tight losses. Since the All-Star Game, they have a 21-21 record, after another loss to the Cards on Wednesday night (8-6). In their last 10 games, they have lost 5.
Even though some fans tried to side with the team, most were disappointed. They noted how every year, LA leads the league in terms of fan attendance, but not when the performance is so lousy. For them, the logic was clear:
If players aren’t showing up, then why should fans! Just the next day, another fan camaraderie was spotted at the ballpark between Cards and LA fans.
One St. Louis fan was jokingly asking for a high five from a Dodgers fan, laughing their hearts out, and the losing side had a nonchalant yet annoyed look on their face, holding up that annoyed sign, too. Check it out here!
While the whole team is held accountable for the loss, Eric Lauer probably disappointed fans the most. But there might be a reason behind his underperformance on Tuesday.
Eric Lauer lands on the IL
Trouble started for Eric Lauer early, as he threw 63 pitches across 3 innings. In the second inning, he surrendered solo homers to Ramon Urias and Saggese in back-to-back at-bats. Then, imploded in the third, beginning with a lead-off single to Fermin.
Lauer allowed consecutive singles to Ivan Herrera and Walker, then loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch against Baez, who later scored.
Another single later, the Cardinals were leading 5-0. The damage did not stop.
Lauer issued a walk to Leo Bernal, who later scored during an inning-ending play. When Lauer exited, the Dodgers were trailing 7-0.
Following his disastrous outing, Lauer said that something may have gone wrong with his mechanics. But he did not mention an injury.
“I felt good warming up, felt good in the bullpen, and then got out there and kind of just lost it,” said Lauer, per ESPN. “I think I might have been tinkering a little too much in between. I don’t think that there’s something glaringly wrong.”
However, the team placed him on the 15-day IL with left elbow inflammation. In a corresponding move, the Dodgers activated Blake Treinen from the 60-day list.
Treinen was out for more than two months due to right elbow inflammation. He has recorded seven rehab appearances between Single-A Ontario and Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers will hope to get a boost in the pitching department with the fresh arm. But there’s one factor that fans should probably not ignore.
Manager Dave Roberts has a “lose the battle to win the war” regular-season mentality to preserve player health. The team routinely uses the late summer months to rest starters, adjust heavy-leverage workloads, and navigate a fatigued, older roster. We have observed a distinct, cyclical pattern over recent seasons of enduring late-summer slumps before finding their form again just in time for dominant postseason runs.
In 2025, they endured a season-high seven-game losing streak in July, just like they did this year, too. This pattern only indicates that there will be a comeback.