Trainer’s room
DENVER — Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Cody Bellinger homered, and the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of Germán Márquez’s struggles and early injury exit to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4 on Wednesday night.
Trea Turner added a tworun double and Julio Urías pitched into the sixth inning as the Dodgers avoided a three-game sweep against their surprising nemesis. The last-place Rockies had been 4-1 against the NL West leaders.
Márquez (4-6) left with an apparent injury to his throwing hand with one out in the fourth after allowing five runs and five hits, including Freeman’s 446-foot solo drive to center in the first that extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Smith hit his 12th homer, a two-run shot off Jhoulys Chacín in the fifth, to make it 7-1.
Bellinger belted his 10th homer to right through a hard rain with thunder and lighting in the sky in the eighth after the pubic address announcer asked fans to go to the concourse. The game was never stopped, except to work on drying the mound between innings.
Brendan Rodgers hit a solo homer in the eighth, an RBI double in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth. Kris Bryant had two singles in his third game back from injury for the Rockies, who had won seven straight against NL West teams.
Urías (6-6) was sharp through five innings before getting into a jam. He was replaced with one out and was charged with three runs and six hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
It was the first time in five starts he allowed more than two earned runs.
The Dodgers had 11 hits to finish a 6-3 trip after managing four runs in the first two games at Coors Field.
Dodgers: Manager Dave Roberts said he’s “very optimistic” OF Mookie Betts (rib) will return before the All-star break. Betts is swinging the bat without difficulty, but still has pain when he throws. “I’m pretty certain when he does join us again it’s going to be by way of DH,” Roberts said.
Rockies: RHP Ryan Feltner, who was optioned to Triple-a Albuquerque on Monday, remains with the team and threw a side session before the game. The team has not announced any additional pitching injuries.
Freeman drama
Freeman
declined
comment on radio host Doug Gottlieb’s tweet Wednesday that Freeman fired agent Casey Close this week because Close didn’t tell him about Atlanta’s final contact offer in March. Freeman went on to leave the Braves after 12 seasons.
Stanley cup
The crowd roared before the game as Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog lugged in the Stanley Cup from left field and hoisted it above his head. Landeskog later threw out the first pitch to Rockies left-hander and Avs fanatic Kyle Freeland.
The championship parade is Thursday in downtown Denver.
LAD 120 010 — 8 11 0 COL 102 010 — 4 10 0 Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg. T.turner ss 5 0 1 2 0 0 .309 Freeman 1b 4 2 2 1 1 1 .308 Smith c 5 1 2 2 0 0 .261 Muncy dh 5 0 0 0 0 1 .162 Taylor rf-lf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .244 Bellinger cf 4 2 1 1 1 1 .212 Lamb lf 1 2 1 0 1 0 .500 Thompson rf 2 0 1 0 0 1 .211 Lux 2b 3 1 2 0 1 0 .296 Alvarez 3b 3 0 1 2 0 1 .160
Totals 36 811 8 5 6 Colorado AB R H BI BB SO
Daza cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 Blackmon dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 Bryant lf 4 2 2 0 0 0
Cron 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 Rodgers 2b 4 1 3 3 0 1 Iglesias ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 Grichuk rf 4 0 2 0 0 1 Mcmahon 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1
Díaz c 4 0 0 0 0 3
Totals 35 410 4 1 8
LOB — Los Angeles 7, Colorado 5. 2B — T.turner (18), Iglesias (16), Rodgers (18).
HR — Freeman (9), off Márquez; Smith (12), off Chacín; Bellinger (10), off Bird; Rodgers (7), off Moronta. RBIS — Freeman (47), Alvarez 2 (3), T.turner 2 (56), Smith 2 (37), Bellinger (29), Rodgers 3 (37), Cron (56). SF — Alvarez.
Runners left in scoring position — Los Angeles 4 (Bellinger 2, Freeman 2); Colorado 4 (Mcmahon 2, Grichuk, Iglesias). RISP — Los Angeles 2 for 9; Colorado 4 for 8.
Runners moved up — T.turner, Cron.
GIDP — T.turner, Mcmahon, Bryant.
DP — Los Angeles 2 (Alvarez, Lux, Freeman; T.turner, Alvarez, Freeman); Colorado 1 (Rodgers, Cron).
Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP
Urías 5L 6 3 3 1 5 89 Graterol 1M 2 0 0 0 2 18 Moronta 1 1 1 1 0 0 14
Price 1 1 0 0 0 1 10
Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP Márquez 3L 5 5 5 3 2 75 Chacín 1L 2 2 2 0 0 16
Blach 1L 2 0 0 0 1 20
Bird 2 1 1 1 0 1 16 Estévez 1 1 0 0 2 2 27
W — Urías (6-6). L — Márquez (4-6). Inherited runners-scored — Graterol 2-1, Chacín 2-0.
Umpires — Home, Ryan Additon; First, Jordan Baker; Second, Mark Carlson; Third, Chris Guccione.
T— 2:56. A — 37,092 (50,445). 130 000
Up next
Avg. .306 .267 .267 .294 .266 .296 .259 .235 .220
ERA
2.64 3.82 2.08 3.20 ERA
5.89 6.50 6.34 1.29 5.11
RHP Antonio Senzatela (3-4, 4.66) faces Arizona RHP Merrill Kelly (6-5, 3.64) on Friday.
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — LIV Golf’s first U.S. event was set to begin Thursday, with a group of survivors and families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks planning to gather at a nearby park to speak out against the Saudi Arabia-funded tour.
Brett Eagleson was 15 years old when he lost his father in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on that day in 2001.
“We want the golfers to know who they’re getting in bed with, who they’re doing business with,” Eagleson said. “Any golfer that chooses to go play for the LIV tournament should have to listen to the family members and look us in the eye, and explain to us why they’re taking the Saudi money and why they’re playing in this tournament. And we want the ability to educate the golfers on what we know about the Saudi role on 9/11.”
Eagleson, now 36, is among those criticizing the LIV tournament and it’s connection to a regime that has flouted human rights. All but four of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudi citizens, and the Saudi kingdom was the birthplace of Osama bin Laden, the head of al-qaida and mastermind of the attack.
The LIV Golf Invitational starts Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, about 20 miles west of downtown Portland.
Eagleson is especially disheartened over Phil Mickelson, one of this childhood heroes, and his decision to join LIV Golf. The tour, run by Greg Norman and funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has offered signing bonuses — some that reportedly topping $100 million — that some players have found irrestible.
“Now to see him, kowtowing into the Saudis, and saying that he doesn’t give a crap, he doesn’t give a crap about the struggles and the pain and the misery. Three-thousand dead Americans. He doesn’t care because he got offered a paycheck? It’s just the worst form of greed,” Eagleson said.
In addition to Mickelson, fellow majors winners Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson Dechambeau have also joined LIV Golf. Mickelson did not speak to reporters before the Oregon tournament.
As much as the upstart tour no doubt wants to escape criticism, it can’t avoid it. At the pre-tournament news conferences, golfers were asked about the Saudi connection and gave similar, pat answers to questions about the topic, repeating variations of the message that golf can be a “force for good.”
But well before LIV Golf arrived in tiny North Plains, the city’s mayor and those from surrounding cities wrote the Texasbased owner of the club to protest the event, saying it didn’t align with the community’s values. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden called the event “sportswashing” to distract from human rights abuses.
The Portland stop is the second of eight LIV Golf events this year. The families of the Sept. 11 victims and the survivors also spoke out against the inaugural event outside London earlier this month.
Koepka, who recently joined LIV Golf after initially denouncing it, downplayed the concerns about the Saudi funding.
“They’re allowed to have their opinions. You know, we’ve heard it. I think everybody has. It’s been brought up,” said Koepka, a former world No. 1 and four-time majors champion.