Paul Skenes dominates the Dodgers as the Pirates finish the sweep: "It's embarrassing."

Despite playing a Pirates team in last place, the Dodgers failed to win any of their three games in Pittsburgh this week.

Even though the San Diego Padres, who are in second place, also lost three games, they did not increase their lead in the division.

And despite their insistence that better performance will come, they just didn't look like a club that could share in any joy, as veteran infielder Miguel Rojas emphasized Thursday night.

Rojas remarked, "I feel like the pressure and frustration on the team have been building ever since we started playing poorly a couple of months ago."

"We are aware of our capabilities. We are operating below the threshold, which is our objective. Ultimately, though, we must set all of it aside and find some happiness and inspiration to go to the stadium. Not merely "I have to do my job." Regardless of the circumstances, we must come here and have fun in the clubhouse.

Naturally, things appear dire after Thursday's 5-3 loss to the Pirates, which completed a confusing three-game sweep.

It's annoying. Rojas remarked, "It's embarrassing." However, we must be able to move on and approach tomorrow with a more positive outlook. We need to figure out how to have a little more fun with the game.

Of course, this loss was the simplest to explain.

Cy Young leader Paul Skenes exhibited his usual strong form in six scoreless innings. With a seven-pitch repertoire that featured his upper-90s mph sidearm fastball, the second-year right-hander, who was already leading the major league ERA, stranded two baserunners in the third inning, gave up just two hits, and struck out eight batters. He also avoided his only real threat.

Despite mostly minimizing much hard contact, his opponent, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, was far from at his best, giving up five runs in five innings.

With three runs (their first since the eighth inning of Tuesday's game) and the tying run on base, the Dodgers (78-62) did at last display some offensive life in the top of the ninth. The game ended on a three-pitch strikeout by recently called-up catcher Ben Rortvedt, the most recent nail-biting moment in a deflating season, but by that point, it was too little, too late.

"It's really just that we're not playing good baseball," Snell stated. "That is something we must resolve. We are responsible for doing it. We need to start it up. Right now is a critical moment. You really can't make excuses.

After the Padres unexpectedly lost three straight games to the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week, the Dodgers squandered an opportunity to pull ahead in the standings and now lead the NL West by just two games.

They also risk a three-game wild-card series instead of a first-round bye since they are three games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for a top-two spot in the NL postseason standings.

The Dodgers would need to play flawlessly the next 22 games in order to reach the 100-win milestone. Given the team's 4-12 record in their last 16 games versus losing teams, even 90 victories now seem far from certain.

Manager Dave Roberts later admitted, "I want to say it's uncharacteristic, but I think we've done that a lot."

They also never appeared to be in a position to reverse that trend when facing the sport's top pitcher right now.

Skenes set the mood of the gloomy Pittsburgh evening right away. In the opening at-bat of the game, Shohei Ohtani hit a 99 mph heater but failed to hit it. In order to help Skenes establish a comfortable rhythm, he used a combination of four-seamers, sweepers, curveballs, and changeups, and the next seven Dodgers to reach the plate all recorded outs.

The Dodgers didn't have their first baserunner until Dalton Rushing, who started in place of an injured Will Smith while the team's starting catcher awaited the results of a CT scan for a bruised hand he sustained the previous evening, hit a fastball high off the center-field wall for a double in the third inning. However, Mookie Betts grounded out to eliminate that threat following an Ohtani walk.

After that, Rojas' single in the fifth inning was the only more damage Skenes permitted. He was removed from the game after six innings, but it was too late to make a comeback because the Dodgers were able to foul off at least two-strike pitches (they fought off a total of 15).

This is because, in contrast to the Dodgers, the Pirates, who finished last (64-77), were able to mount rallies against another of the best pitchers in the game.

With Rushing misfiring to first base for an error in the first inning and Betts taking a long time to react to a ground ball at shortstop to prolong the second, Snell's outing was a slog from the beginning.

Snell managed to get over those obstacles. But in the third, he followed Bryan Reynolds' leadoff single with two wild pitches that passed Rushing. Tommy Pham hit the first run of the evening with a single through the dirt after Reynolds was placed on third unexpectedly, forcing the Dodgers' infield to play in.

The Pirates cracked it open two innings later.

Pittsburgh's lead was increased in the fifth inning when Snell allowed three straight singles. Later, Nick Yorke went after a first-pitch curveball for a two-run double after Andrew McCutchen intentionally walked with one out. Later, McCutchen scored a grounder from third.

Roberts remarked, "It just seemed like there were some seeing-eye singles today, balls finding the outfield grass." He was good, not spectacular, in my opinion. However, once more, somewhat unlucky. You simply cannot afford to let up runs when playing Paul Skenes.

If that wasn't enough, the game concluded with yet another unfortunate scene in the ninth inning. Betts hit a leadoff home run to break up the shutout. When the Dodgers were down to their final out, singles by Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, Andy Pages, and Rojas added two more runs.

But then Rortvedt emerged as their doomed last hope.

After replacing Rushing an inning earlier, Rortvedt, a career minor-leaguer the Dodgers acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays at the trade deadline, was called up Thursday after Smith had taken a foul ball off his hand the previous evening. Rortvedt struck out.

Roberts clarified after the game that he was attempting to get Rushing, a rookie who has started as a backup this season but is expected to start the next three games while Smith heals from his hand injury, off his feet. He wasn't anticipating Rushing's position in the order, which was scheduled up eighth in the ninth inning, to return given the way the game had gone.

"Obviously, I would have loved to have Dalton up there in a different universe," Roberts remarked. "However, when you're down 5-0 and have three hits in eight [innings], you're also trying to figure out how to keep him healthy for the next few days."

For the Dodgers, it's the same now. They are still fighting about their erratic lineup. Their alleged rotational strength hasn't been able to take control. Furthermore, they have an unfathomable 22-30 record since July 4 and there is no end in sight to their second-half decline, nor are there any outward indications of anything other than frustration.

We feel the need to win, so I think as an offense we're putting a little too much pressure on ourselves. And when we play this game, we're truly losing sight of what matters most—playing for each other and enjoying ourselves," Rojas remarked.

It's not fun to lose baseball games, as everyone knows. However, I think we need to figure out how to put things in perspective. We continue to hold the top spot. The Padres are still two games behind us. While playing the game, we ought to be able to unwind a little bit and have some fun. Because I believe that this team is extremely difficult to beat when we are working together like that.

The Los Angeles Times was the first to publish this story.