LOS ANGELES — A sleepy Los Angeles Dodgers offense finally sprung to life in the late innings Monday night, tying the score to force extra innings — and then Tanner Scott, their high-priced bullpen acquisition, got hit around and sunk his team.

It’s been a trend.

Scott, who allowed two 10th-inning runs to score in a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets, holds a 4.72 ERA through his first 28 appearance since joining the Dodgers on a four-year, $72 million contract in the offseason. His last seven outings have seen him get charged with 10 earned runs on 13 hits in six innings, a stretch in which he has sustained two losses and two blown saves.

“I’m just not hitting my locations,” Scott said, “and it’s costing us.”

And it seems as if the Dodgers have no choice but to keep entrusting him with close leads late, as alternatives are scant. Evan Phillips, who finished 64 of the Dodgers’ regular-season games these past two years, will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery later this week. Four other high-leverage relievers are currently on the injured list, a group that includes Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol. Another experienced right-hander, Luis Garcia, hit the IL with a groin strain last week.

The Dodgers’ bullpen has nonetheless absorbed more innings than any other group in the major leagues, a byproduct of the injuries that have also plagued the rotation. Two rookies in particular, Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer, have combined to absorb nearly 70 of them.

“You have to give credit to Jack and Ben, but it’s the other guys’ responsibilities as well who’ve been through the trials and have a lot more experience than those two players,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I just don’t think it’s right to put everything on those two young players. I don’t.”

Roberts, managing a bullpen that skews drastically left-handed these days, needs more from Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda, two seasoned southpaws who have combined for a 3.86 ERA.

Mostly, though, he needs more from Scott.

The 30-year-old left-hander struggled early in his career but put himself on the map with a dominant season in Miami in 2023, posting a 2.31 ERA in 74 appearances. He was even better the following year, making his first All-Star team and finishing the regular season with a 1.75 ERA. But it’s what he did in the playoffs that resonated most with the Dodgers’ front office.

While pitching for the division rival San Diego Padres, Scott made four scoreless appearances against the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. His job was mostly to help tame Shohei Ohtani, and Scott did so by striking him out each of the four times he faced him. The Dodgers were impressed enough to lavish Scott with the type of money they hardly ever shell out for a relief pitcher.

So far, though, that version of Scott has been mostly nonexistent.

Heading into the start of a four-game series against the Mets, Scott ranked within the bottom 12% in the sport in average exit velocity and within the bottom 21% in hard-hit rate. Ohtani put the Dodgers on the board with a 424-foot home run that cleared the right-field bullpen in the seventh inning, his NL-leading 23rd, then tied the score with a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track in the bottom of the ninth. But the Mets hit Scott immediately in the next half-inning.

Francisco Alvarez started with a scorching double to right field, bringing in the automatic runner. Francisco Lindor followed with a line-drive single to left, making it a two-run game. Both came on fastballs. Opposing hitters slugged just .179 against Scott’s four-seam fastball last year.

This year, they’re slugging .581, even though the pitch’s characteristics are similar.

“It’s getting hit a lot,” Scott said. “It sucks right now. Last year I relied on it a lot, and this year it’s getting hit and I’m missing locations.”