SAN FRANCISCO — Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered a masterful performance for six of his seven innings Tuesday night, yet the Los Angeles Dodgers walked away from Oracle Park with a frustrating 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, a defeat that exposed troubling cracks in the team’s foundation and reignited a painful pattern for their ace.

 

Yamamoto, who has been arguably the National League’s most consistent pitcher this season, found himself in a 3-0 hole before he could even settle into the game, a deficit created not by his own failures but by a cascade of defensive miscues that have become an alarming trend for the defending World Series champions.

 

The first inning was a nightmare of miscommunication and poor execution. A misfired throw from shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, a baffling miscommunication in the outfield, and balls finding holes with uncanny precision left Yamamoto staring at a three-run deficit before he had recorded his fourth out of the game.

 

What happened next should have been the story. Yamamoto, rather than unraveling as lesser pitchers might have done, locked in with a ferocity that has defined his career. He retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced, striking out eight and allowing just two hits after that disastrous first inning.

 

But the Dodgers wasted it.

 

This has become an unsettling theme for Yamamoto in his starts this season. Despite posting quality starts in all five of his outings, he now owns a 2-2 record, a mark that does not remotely reflect his performance. The Dodgers have failed to provide run support when he takes the mound, a problem that threatens to undermine one of baseball’s most dominant arms.

 

The offense, which has carried the Dodgers to a 16-7 record, simply disappeared. Los Angeles managed just three hits in the game, with Shohei Ohtani accounting for one of them in the seventh inning on an infield single that kept his historic streak alive. Teoscar Hernandez added a double, but that was the extent of the damage.

 

The Dodgers drew seven walks, putting runners on base with regularity, but they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. In the fourth inning, they loaded the bases on walks but could not push across more than one run, a missed opportunity that proved decisive.

 

The loss was particularly galling because it came against the Giants, a rivalry that runs deep in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Every defeat to San Francisco stings, but this one felt different. This was a game Yamamoto had handed them on a silver platter, and they had let it slip away.

 

The defensive issues extended beyond the first inning. In the sixth inning, center fielder Alex Call committed a mental error that nearly cost the team a run. With Jung Hoo Lee on first base, Elliot Ramos singled to center field. Call, rather than firing the ball back to the infield with urgency, lobbed a casual throw that allowed Lee to attempt to score from first base.

 

Only heads-up play from shortstop Alex Freeland and catcher Dalton Rushing saved the run, but the moment exposed a lack of focus that has no place on a championship-caliber team.

 

This was the continuation of a grueling stretch for the Dodgers, who are in the midst of 13 games in 13 days. Manager Dave Roberts attempted to manage the workload, resting catcher Will Smith and outfielder Andy Pages, two of the team’s hottest hitters. But the lineup that took the field behind Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, and Freddie Freeman simply could not produce.

 

The middle and bottom of the order combined for just one hit. Tucker, who was acquired in the offseason to provide protection for Ohtani, continues to struggle, his OPS barely clearing 700. The Dodgers need him to find his rhythm, because opposing pitchers are simply refusing to give Ohtani anything to hit.

 

Ohtani, despite not being fully locked in at the plate, extended his on-base streak to 53 consecutive regular-season games, tying Shawn Green for the longest such streak in Los Angeles Dodgers history. He is now five games away from tying Duke Snider’s franchise record, which includes the Brooklyn years.

 

The streak is remarkable not just for its length but for the circumstances. Ohtani is not swinging the bat with the authority that has made him the most feared hitter in baseball. He is not crushing home runs with regularity. He is simply finding ways to get on base, whether through walks, infield singles, or timely hits in late innings.

 

In the seventh inning Tuesday, with the Dodgers trailing 3-1, Ohtani came to the plate with a runner on first base. He took three balls to start the at-bat, then watched two strikes go by. With the count full, he fought off a pitch and dropped an infield single into the hole between shortstop and third base.

 

It was not a highlight-reel moment. It was not a game-changing swing. But it was the kind of at-bat that defines great players, the ability to extend a streak when everything is working against them.

 

The Dodgers have now lost six of their seven games this season when scoring three runs or fewer. Two of those losses were by one run, three by two runs, and Tuesday’s defeat was the latest example of an offense that can go silent for inexplicable stretches.

 

This is a team built to score runs in bunches. The lineup features Ohtani, Tucker, Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, and Teoscar Hernandez. There is no excuse for scoring one run against a Giants team that is not exactly dominant on the mound.

 

But baseball happens. There is no rational explanation for why a team with this much talent can look so ordinary on any given night. The Dodgers have earned the benefit of the doubt, having won 90-plus games in each of the last several seasons. One loss in April does not define a season.

 

Yet there is a frustration that comes with watching a team that is so clearly capable of greatness fail to execute in the moments that matter. The Dodgers have the talent to win the World Series. They have the depth to withstand injuries and slumps. But they cannot afford to waste performances like the one Yamamoto delivered Tuesday night.

 

Yamamoto has been everything the Dodgers hoped for when they signed him to a massive contract. He has been durable, consistent, and dominant. He has given his team a chance to win every time he takes the mound. And too often, his teammates have let him down.

 

The Dodgers will have a chance to bounce back Wednesday, with Ohtani scheduled to both pitch and hit. The two-way superstar will look to extend his on-base streak and give the Dodgers a much-needed win before they return home to face the Chicago Cubs.

 

But the questions surrounding this team will not go away. The defense has been sloppy at times. The offense has been inconsistent. And the bullpen, while generally reliable, has not been tested as much as it might be later in the season.

 

For now, the Dodgers remain in first place, tied with the San Diego Padres at 16-7. The season is young, and there is plenty of time to correct the issues that plagued them Tuesday night.

 

But the pattern is concerning. When Yamamoto pitches, the Dodgers seem to forget how to hit. When the defense falters, the offense cannot pick them up. And when the game is on the line, the clutch hits that defined last year’s championship run have been absent.

 

The Dodgers will figure it out. They always do. But Tuesday night was a reminder that even the best teams have bad nights, and that no amount of talent can overcome a lack of execution.

 

Yamamoto did his job. The rest of the team did not. And that is a story that has become all too familiar for the Dodgers’ ace.