Dodgers lose 11th in a row at 2:11 a.m. in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISO — Good morning. The Dodgers did not lose a game Monday.

But their demons pursued them into the early-morning hours. It took until 2:11 Tuesday morning but the Dodgers’ losing streak reached 11 (the longest in Los Angeles history) thanks to an 8-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants that took more than six hours to complete.

The forces of nature helped the Dodgers avoid their fate for awhile. But even that wasn’t enough to prevent their 16th loss in the past 17 games.

Given the long, late night and the fact that the Dodgers tied the game three times only to eventually lose, the loss might have been as demoralizing as any of the previous 10.

“I wouldn’t say demoralizing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s disappointing. ... I thought we were going to win that game. I thought we put ourselves in position to win. But we couldn’t hold the lead.”

A series of thunderstorms moved through the Bay Area, featuring lightning strikes and heavy rains and producing two separate delays at AT&T Park – one before the game even started and another after just one batter.

The start of the game was delayed 42 minutes before the first pitch was thrown. It was stopped minutes later after five pitches. That batter, Curtis Granderson, struck out. Apt, considering the way things have been going for Granderson individually and the Dodgers collectively over the past 2½ weeks, the skies opened almost immediately.

During a nearly three-hour delay, the forecast couldn’t pin down when it might stop. The two teams could not agree on what to do.

According to Giants CEO Larry Baer on the team’s broadcast, the Dodgers were unwilling to give up a mutual off day and reschedule the game for Thursday. The Dodgers are scheduled to travel cross country Thursday to Washington for a three-game weekend series against the National League East champion Nationals.

The possibility of a doubleheader Wednesday was raised. But the forecast is for more potential rain that night.

“For us, that was our choice,” Roberts said of the doubleheader option. “But it was out of our hands.”

Ultimately, MLB decided the two teams would resume the game at 10:50 p.m. and play deep into the night – a decision that confused the seagulls who gather over AT&T Park to make a post-game meal of the trash in the stands. They arrived about 10 p.m., expecting the game to be in the ninth inning only to be shooed away by the crowd’s clapping.

The Dodgers were able to make more progress in the NL West by not playing than their efforts on the field have produced in the past 10 days. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost, 5-4, at home to the Colorado Rockies on Monday, their game finishing just as the San Francisco grounds crew began prepping the field (again) for the resumption of play.

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That loss cut the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the NL West to 10. Try as they might, the Dodgers couldn’t summon any more magic.

Right-hander Kenta Maeda had a worse night than the seagulls. He didn’t take the mound until 11 o’clock then quickly surrendered four runs in three innings, including home runs by Denard Span and Jarrett Parker. It was the 10th time in these 17 games that the Dodgers trailed after the first three innings. Their starting pitchers have a 6.54 ERA in that time.

Early deficits have become a nightly occurrence. Comebacks have not.

This time, though, the Dodgers rallied to tie the score at 4-4 in the fourth and Yasiel Puig gave them a lead with a solo home run leading off the fifth.

But the Dodgers’ bullpen kept giving up runs like nightcaps as last call approached. The Giants scored in six of the first seven innings, a stretch that also featured a taped rendition of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” to honor the tragedy of Sept. 11 – during a seventh-inning stretch on Sept. 12.

“There’s no guarantees. There are no locks,” Roberts said of the string of porous performances from his bullpen during this freefall. “You could argue Watty (left-hander Tony Watson) has been throwing as well as anyone and he gave up a run tonight.”

That run on a ringing RBI double by Buster Posey in the seventh inning put the final nail in the Dodgers. The loss was their 21st in their past 28 games at AT&T Park. Clayton Kershaw has been the starting pitcher in five of the Dodgers’ seven victories. He starts Tuesday’s late game.