The Rockies’ closest shot at the NL West title feels like a long-off dream.
In the series opener on Monday at Coors Field, the Dodgers made the Rockies look like little brother again in a 9-5 win. Dating back to when L.A. beat Colorado in 2018’s Game 163 to win the divisional title, Monday’s victory improved the Dodgers to 40 games over .500 (72-32) against the outmatched Rockies.
L.A. outhit and outpitched Colorado for the majority of the evening in a game in front of 32,021 as the Rockies were never really in it.
“That’s why they are who they are,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “They’ve got those collection of hitters at the top, even without (Mookie) Betts (who is out with a fractured hand) … they’re pretty good. Some might say (several) are destined for the Hall of Fame.”
L.A. struck first in the opening inning, using Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double to score Freddie Freeman. That run was a bad omen for the Rockies, considering the Dodgers entered the evening with an MLB-best 89.2 winning percentage when scoring first.
The Dodgers improved to 34-4 on the season in that regard despite Cal Quantrill, the Rockies’ best pitcher this year, keeping the home team in it for the first half of the game.
While Quantrill threw five innings of three-run ball against one of baseball’s top offenses, the Colorado bats fell flat until the very end.
“The first couple innings, I fought the strike zone a little bit,” Quantrill said. “I battled. I’m probably not going to write home about that one, but I thought I gave us a chance.”
The Rockies only mustered two hits through the first eight innings: Jacob Stallings’ solo homer off James Paxton in the second, and Nolan Jones’ single off Paxton in the sixth.
“Paxton’s fastball was good tonight, and he was locating it in and out,” Hunter Goodman said. “He was locating his curveball at the bottom of the zone, too, and mixing those two made it tough for us.”
After taking an early 1-0 lead, L.A. tacked on two runs in the second. Shohei Ohtani roped an RBI single to right and Will Smith followed with an RBI triple, also to right that hit off the foul line.
L.A. then broke the game open against Geoff Hartlieb in the seventh and eighth to make it 7-1. The Dodgers plated two runs off the right-hander in the seventh and two more in the eighth in a frame sparked by Ohtani’s leadoff walk and then steal of second.
Justin Lawrence gave up two runs in the ninth via Gavin Lux’s RBI double and Smith’s sacrifice fly to pad the Dodgers’ lead. The side-armer, reinstated from the IL before the game, threw a career-high 42 pitches across the eighth and ninth.
Ohtani finished 3 for 5 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Each knock by the Japanese sensation was met with a roar from the blue-clad crowd, and when his steal upheld a Colorado challenge, the L.A. fans on hand went crazy. Ohtani’s line made him the first player in Dodgers history to have a game with at least three hits, two doubles and one stolen base at Coors Field.
As Ohtani lived up to the hype, fellow Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman walked his way into history. The first baseman drew five walks, one of them intentional, for just the second five-walk game ever at Coors Field. Freeman joined Cooperstown-bound Todd Helton, who walked five times against the Braves on April 29, 2007. Like Helton, Freeman also had a single.
In garbage time with two outs in the ninth, the Rockies staged a rally that was way too little, too late. Greg Jones roped his first career hit and homer to right field off JP Feyereisen. Michael Toglia and Elehuris Montero followed with consecutive doubles, then Hunter Goodman’s two-run blast made it 9-5 before Alan Trejo K’d to end the game.
“We’ve got to take what we did in that last inning and use that as confidence and momentum moving forward,” Goodman said. “It’s a tough loss, but that last inning we showed some grit.”
For Jones, who debuted June 6, his pinch-hit homer was a sweet payoff amid an 0 for 4 start to his career and as he’s battled a couple minor injuries over the past few weeks. Jones became the first player in Rockies history with a pinch-hit homer for his first hit.
He’ll likely soon return to Triple-A Albuquerque to get more regular playing time.
“I just wanted to make sure I touched all the bases,” Jones said. “That was definitely a whirlwind of emotions.”
Roster moves. Ahead of Monday’s series opener, Colorado made a handful of roster moves. The Rockies reinstated right-handers Jake Bird and Lawrence from the 15-day injured list, bolstering the bullpen, while placing southpaw reliever Josh Rogers on the 15-day IL with a left rotator cuff strain.
Black said Rogers underwent an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury. In a corresponding move, right-hander Angel Chivilli was optioned back to Double-A Hartford.
Black hopes the return of Bird and Lawrence will help balance out Colorado’s “uneven” bullpen, which carried an MLB-worst 5.70 ERA into Monday’s game.
Injury updates. Second baseman Brendan Rodgers, who strained his hamstring running out of the box on June 8 in St. Louis, is nearing a return. He’s been doing full baseball activities the last few days, including baserunning and hitting on Monday. He hopes to be back for the Nationals series this weekend, but it could be longer.
“It was pretty minor and when I initially did it, I knew it was going to be in the range of 10 to 15 days, and I’m right in that time frame and feeling a lot better,” Rodgers said.
When Rodgers gets back to the lineup, rookie Adael Amador, the club’s top prospect, will likely be sent back to Double-A Hartford.
Right-hander German Marquez continues his trajectory back to the big-league lineup from Tommy John surgery. He threw two-plus innings on Sunday with Low-A Fresno, allowing four runs on six hits. Black said “he pitched better than the line indicated, and the most important thing is after after the game he felt wonderful, and had no problems with the arm.”
Marquez now heads to High-A Spokane for another rehab start later this week. The goal remains to have him back in LoDo around the all-star break.
Outfielder Sean Bouchard (ankle sprain) and left-hander Kyle Freeland (elbow strain) are both playing for Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
Tuesday’s pitching matchup
Dodgers RHP Walker Buehler (1-4, 4.64) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-4, 4.26)
6:40 p.m. Tuesday, 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
Buehler’s been hit-and-miss this year, including over his last two starts. He allowed two runs over five innings against Texas last week, and in his outing before that, he was hit for three runs over three innings in Pittsburgh. Charlie Blackmon and Ryan McMahon are the only Colorado hitters with significant experience against Buehler; Chuck Nazty is hitting .360 with a couple of homers in 50 at-bats. Gomber, though, needs to get back on track. His first innings have been awful all season, and after a dominant May, the southpaw’s come back down to earth this month. He was blasted for eight runs over three innings in the series finale against Minnesota last week, a 17-9 drubbing. Gomber needs to regain command of his offspeed, which opponents have been shelling lately.
Pitching probables
Wednesday: Dodgers RHP Bobby Miller (1-1, 5.40) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-6, 5.71), 6:40 p.m.
Thursday: Dodger RHP Gavin Stone (7-2, 3.01) at Rockies LHP Ty Blach (3-4, 4.65), 1:10 p.m.
Friday: Nationals LHP DJ Herz (1-1, 3.77) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (2-9, 4.89), 6:40 p.m.
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