Dodgers need Gavin Stone bounce back after loss to Astros

There’s a good chance Gavin Stone will be the Dodgers’ second starter when the playoffs begin in a few months.

If so, the Dodgers will need him to pitch much better than he did Friday night.

In a 5-0 loss at Minute Maid Park, Stone was manhandled by a resurgent Houston Astros club and its star-studded, potent offense, giving up four runs in six innings to continue a July slide in what had previously been a solid rookie season for the 25-year-old right-hander.

Heading into July, Stone had a 2.73 ERA, was showing rapid improvement with a new pitching mix and had begun to emerge as a potential weapon to rely on in the postseason.

Stone has come back to earth lately. Friday was the third time in four starts this month that he has allowed four or more runs. He has also struggled to avoid hard contact, tying a season high with nine hits, or racking up enough strikeouts to escape repeated jams, recording just three for the fourth straight start.

After a clean first inning, Stone struggled in the second. He gave up a leadoff single. He walked a batter with two outs. Then, after trailing 3-and-1 by Joey Loperfido, he gave up an RBI single on a fly ball to left field.

The Astros (54-49) heated up from there.

Alex Bregman hit a fastball in the middle of the third inning, sending a no-doubt ball over the Crawford Boxes in left field. In the fourth inning, Jon Singleton also hit hard, flipping his bat with a two-handed pitch after hitting a two-run home run to the second floor in right field.

Stone avoided any further damage from there, but still saw his season ERA rise to 3.34, the highest since late May.

The Dodgers (62-43) offered little offensive support, especially after Freddie Freeman was scratched before the game to return to Los Angeles to be with his family (Freeman’s youngest son, Maximus, 3, was in the hospital this week, according to an Instagram post from Freeman’s wife, Chelsea).

Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a double. After that, the Dodgers didn’t have another hit until the sixth inning, when they left the bases loaded.

In the seventh, a mental error cost them a run, when Kiké Hernández was thrown out at second base before Miguel Vargas could score from third on an infield single.

Overall, the Dodgers had just six hits, struck out 15 times and finished 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

Stone’s performance, however, was particularly troubling for a Dodgers team that remains without Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller; and that approaches next Tuesday’s trade deadline with few obvious pitching upgrades available to pursue on the trade market.

The team has expressed interest in Garrett Crochet, but concerns about his workload (and his reported preference for a contract extension if he is traded to the Chicago White Sox) have added obstacles to those negotiations.

Less expensive alternatives — like, perhaps, Jack Flaherty, a past Dodgers target — could always be added. But finding a clear upgrade over Stone, who has served as the de facto No. 2 in the rotation since Yamamoto’s shoulder injury in June, won’t be an easy task.

Even if the Dodgers add an arm, Stone should of course play a significant role in October.

The rookie still leads the team in wins (nine), is second in innings pitched (107 ⅔) and, outside of staff ace Tyler Glasnow, has been the club’s second-most reliable starting option.

The first three months of the season have shown his potential and fueled hopes that he could be a late-season difference-maker for the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

But nights like Friday were a stark reminder of the risks inherent in that plan — and the growing difficulties Stone continues to face in his bid to become an established, legitimate front-line option.