No, “I Love L.A.” didn’t blare out of the Coors Field speakers Thursday afternoon. But that didn’t keep the Dodgers from feeling right at home. Per usual.
Behind a strong start from rookie right-hander Gavin Stone and homers from the top three hitters in their lineup — All-Stars Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman — the Dodgers beat the Rockies, 5-3, to clinch the four-game series.
“Even without Mookie, that lineup is still ridiculous,” Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon said, referring to Dodgers injured star shortstop Mookie Betts. “Their first four hitters are all MVP contenders. It’s a really good lineup, but honestly, I think we played them pretty tough.”
But not tough enough.
Since 2018, Los Angeles is 74-33 vs. Colorado. During Colorado’s ongoing six-season losing streak, dating back to 2019, Los Angeles is 29-16 at Coors.
Down 5-0 after five innings, the Rockies made a game of it, and McMahon had an All-Star kind of day. In the sixth, he channeled his inner Brooks Robinson, digging out Miguel Rojas’ grounder down the third-base line and rocketing a throw to first to get Rojas by a half-step.
“I practice that play every day,” McMahon said. “It was a slow, top-spinner down the line. It wasn’t hit that hard, but getting to the ball took me kind of far (away). But I practice that throw every day. I have confidence in myself, and I chucked it over there.”
McMahon led off the eighth with a 462-foot blast to the second deck above the bullpens in right field to cut the lead to 5-3. McMahon turned on lefty Alex Vesia’s 2-0 fastball for his team-high 13th homer.
McMahon’s moon shot was the Rockies’ longest homer of the season and the fifth-longest of his career. He owns four of Colorado’s five longest home runs this season.
Stone dominated Colorado for the first five innings, however, allowing no runs on three hits. He lost his mojo in the sixth, issuing a leadoff walk to Sean Bouchard, a one-out walk to Michael Toglia and a single to Elehuris Montero to load the bases.
Manager Dave Roberts saw the writing on the wall and replaced Stone with Blake Treinen, who promptly gave up a two-run single to Jake Cave. The Dodgers’ big lead had been cut to 5-2.
Stone took the Coors Field mound for the first time on a terrific roll. Over his previous nine starts, he was 6-1 with a 2.06 ERA.
“He’s got a good changeup and good location with the fastball with enough velocity,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “And he’s able to pitch down, and also pitch up effectively.”
Rockies veteran left-hander Ty Blach is a pitch-to-contact pitcher. Sometimes, his style works, and sometimes, it doesn’t. Thursday, it most definitely did not.
The Dodgers blasted Blach for five runs on 10 hits, including the solo homers by Ohtani to lead off the game and back-to-back blasts by Smith and Freeman in the fourth.
Blach entered the game with a solid track record against the Dodgers, going 4-3 with a 3.13 ERA in 20 appearances (nine starts). Blach’s ERA was the eighth-lowest against the Dodgers among all active pitchers (minimum 50 innings).
But as Black pointed out, Blach’s track record doesn’t include many innings against the likes of Ohtani and Freeman, who are relatively new to the Dodgers’ lineup. Mostly, Black said, Blach lacked command on key pitches during Thursday’s game.
“I would say that’s a pretty fair assessment,” Blach said. “I didn’t quite get inside on Smith. The pitch to Ohtani wasn’t terrible; honestly, I didn’t think he hit it that good. But he got it. And the pitch to Freddie (Freeman) was a breaking ball that just didn’t get away from him enough.”
Freeland’s start. Veteran lefty Kyle Freeland, recovered from a left elbow strain, is ready to rejoin the big-league rotation. He’s scheduled to start Sunday’s game against the Nationals at Coors Field.
Black said he is not ready to announce what the corresponding move will be when Freeland rejoins the starting staff.
Freeland made two rehab starts at Triple-A Albuquerque. In his last start for the Isotopes at Oklahoma City, Freeland threw 67 pitches over four innings and gave up two runs on two hits, striking out four but also walking four.
“I kind of lost my command a bit, but the important thing is that my elbow is healthy and I’m ready to go,” Freeland said.
Amador injured. Rookie season baseman Adael Amador left Thursday’s game in the eighth inning with what Black called “a mild oblique strain.” The 21-year-old suffered a similar injury with Double-A Hartford earlier this season. It remains to be seen whether he’ll require a trip to the injured list.
Friday’s pitching matchup
Nationals LHP DJ Herz (1-1, 3.77 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (2-9, 4.89 ERA)
6:40 p.m. Friday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Hudson’s loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday (three runs allowed over 5 1/3 innings) was his ninth, the most in the National League. However, the right-hander has pitched much better lately, posting a 3.63 ERA over his last seven starts. He’s still looking for his first victory at Coors Field in a Rockies uniform. He’s 0-4 with a 7.16 ERA at home this season. He’s pitched well against Washington, going 3-1 with a 2.74 ERA, including a 1-1 record with a 2.40 ERA in three starts.
Herz, a talented rookie, is coming off a history-making start. In the Nationals’ 4-0 win over Miami last Saturday, he joined former Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg as the only major league pitcher with 13-plus strikeouts and zero walks in one of their first three career starts. Strasburg did it on June 8, 2010, with a 14-strikeout game vs. the Pirates. Herz, who’s never faced the Rockies, limited the Marlins to one hit over six innings.
Pitching probables
Saturday: Nationals’ LHP Mitchell Parker (5-3, 3.06) at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (6-5, 3.43), 7:10 p.m.
Sunday: Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (5-6, 3.24) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-4, 4.36), 1:10 p.m.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
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