The Los Angeles Dodgers looked to write a new story with the return of Mookie Betts back and a newly shifted starting lineup.

It proved to be faulty as the Dodgers fell to the rival San Francisco Giants by a 9-3 final. That win secured the series opener and handed the Dodgers their third straight loss. 

The only way from here is up. 

It had been nine days since we last saw Roki Sasaki toe the mound for the Dodgers, all due in part of Blake Snell returning to the starting rotation and pushing Sasaki's start date from Saturday to Monday. 

In his last start, he went six innings against the St. Louis Cardinals and gave up three earned runs with four strikeouts. Plenty of upside was presented in that outing as he was working around his new splitter grip.  

Fast forward to the series opener against the Giants and it was shaping up to be the best outing Sasaki has had as a starter. 

Despite running into some early trouble in the third inning, facing a bases-loaded situation and two outs, he managed to escape the inning unscathed. 

From then on out, Sasaki dug his heels and would retire the next eight consecutive batters with his velocity remaining consistent throughout. 

He touched 99 mph throughout his start and averaged 97.2 mph on his heater. He paired that nicely with his splitter, which accumulated a whiff rate of 72.7%. 

All was looking well...until he went out for the sixth inning. 

The Giants jumped on Sasaki with three consecutive hits to open up the inning, which was capped off by Heliot Ramos, who hit Sasaki's forkball for a two-run double. 

Sasaki ended his night going five innings, allowing three earned runs, while striking out five on 91 pitches. 

“I mean my stuff was really good today," Sasaki said on his start. "I was able to locate the ball really well and in the third inning I was hitting my spots and I was able to get through five innings.”

The positive you can take out from this game — in terms of offense — was that scored more runs in Monday's game (three runs) than they did their previous two games. 

Following a solo home run from Rafael Devers in the second inning, Los Angeles kicked off their scoring with a two-run fourth inning.

Max Muncy continued his hot hitting at the plate with an RBI single and would later launch his 11th long ball of the season in the sixth inning that tied the ballgame at 3-3. 

That would be all she wrote as the Dodgers went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. 

Despite the Mariana Trench of a slump the Dodgers are in, Muncy knows the team could turn it around.

"We're back-to-back champions for a reason," Muncy said. "We find ways to get out of this. It looks bleak right now, but it is still early May. We still have a long season to go."

Following the removal of Sasaki, the Giants capitalized on a near-taxed Dodgers bullpen, tacking on six earned runs on Alex Vesia, Will Klein, and Wyatt Mills. 

“We just have too much talent and too much desire to keep doing this for much longer,” Dave Roberts said on the Dodgers recent struggles.

With the loss, the Dodgers drop to a 24-17 record and fall back to second place of the National League West Division standings. 

Since their 15-4 start to kick off their season, they have since recorded a record of 9-13. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound on Tuesday as the Dodgers look to retrace their steps in the right direction. 

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