Nationals blow 37th save of the season in loss to Dodgers, lose Orlando Ribalta for ‘near future’

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts wouldn’t miss twice.

After coming so close to hitting a homer in the sixth inning — a ball that Daylen Lile saved with an impressive catch at the wall — Betts ensured his eighth-inning shot would go over the left-field fence.

Even as they look vulnerable in their quest for a three-peat, the Dodgers showed championship resolve over the past two games, in which their bats came alive late. No matter the situation, they showed their clutch gene in their three-game sweep of the Nationals.

Left-hander Will Dion, who’s been a Swiss Army knife for Washington this season, allowed the go-ahead three-run blast by Betts that sank the Nationals in their 7-5 loss Sunday.

It was the Nationals’ 37th blown save of the season, tying the major league record.

“We’ve been dealing with it all year,” manager Blake Butera said. “You can’t be a good baseball team if you blow that many saves. End of the day, we gotta take a deep look at what we’re doing and who we have, what makes most sense moving forward. It’s something that obviously has been frustrating and a huge weight on all of our shoulders.”

Right-hander Orlando Ribalta, who owns a 3.77 ERA and has been one of the team’s more dependable bullpen options in high-leverage situations, was unavailable for the Nationals. Armed with a powerful fastball, Ribalta has done a solid job of limiting hard-hit balls despite posting a pedestrian strikeout rate (23.6%).

He last pitched Tuesday against the Braves. Butera said Ribalta came to him about 30 minutes before the game and said he couldn’t pitch due to a right forearm injury. Ribalta said he felt the soreness Saturday and again Sunday.

Ribalta will get some imaging done, but Butera said that “he’s probably not going to be able to go in the near future.”

“It’s a huge blow,” Butera said of losing Ribalta for an extended stretch. “Especially tonight, where those right-handers came up there. That was the perfect spot to go to him, and just unfortunate that it worked out that way.”

Butera said the 28-year-old righty dealt with this soreness, though with less severity, earlier in the season. Ribalta chalked it up to the grueling nature of the 162-game season and said he’s not too concerned.

“Sometimes you feel stuff here and there, but you want to be cautious,” Ribalta said. “Maybe if it comes down to losing one day if I’m able to be available in the long run.”

Washington’s bullpen gave up leads the past two nights. Left-hander Andrew Alvarez was effective in the first four innings, but things became dicey after he was relieved in the fifth, following a one-out RBI double.

Brad Lord, who had been one of the team’s trusted relievers until a recent poor stretch, struggled to find the strike zone. He induced a groundout from Betts before allowing three consecutive singles that tied the game.

The Nationals will likely have to add a proven veteran or two in the offseason to help stabilize the back end of their bullpen. The group is 28th in strikeouts per nine innings (7.56) and 23rd in walks per nine innings (4.09), and has allowed the third-most home runs per nine innings (1.39).

But the organization will also have to evaluate its process for identifying bullpen arms, its deployment of them and the types of workloads they can handle.

“As we look forward, I think we got to evaluate what this looks like and make sure that we’re getting better,” Butera said.