DODGERS DOMINATE
Colorado bullpen fails again
The Rockies’ discombobulated season of discontent continues.
An imploding bullpen and a disappearing offense were the usual suspects in a 9- 3 loss to the powerful Dodgers Thursday night at Coors Field. The Dodgers have won eight of their last 11 games in LoDo, dating back to last season.
The Rockies managed only five hits, just two after the first inning — a lonely single by Kevin Pillar to lead off the seventh and a solo homer by Trevor Story in the eighth.
Colorado — 11- 16 at home, 22- 27 overall and all but mathematically eliminated from the eight- team playoff field — got a decent start from lefty Kyle Freeland. But it all fell apart in the Dodgers’ six- run seventh inning; the most runs they have scored in an inning this season.
Los Angeles ( 36- 15) sent 10 men to the plate, starting their hit parade with Kike Hernandez’s oneout double off of Freeland. When Freeland walked the next batter, Edwin Ríos, manager Bud Black pulled Freeland and inserted right- hander Carlos Estevez. That move blew up quickly when the Dodgers scored four runs ( three earned) in just one- third inning off Estevez. The big blows were a run- scoring single by Mookie Betts, an RBI double by Corey Seager and a two- run double down the left- field line by Will Smith.
The Dodgers added a leadoff solo homer by Ríos off Wade Davis in the eighth. Davis, who’s struggled with a shoulder injury most of the season, pitched for the first time since July 31.
Rockies starters entered the game having posted a 2.10 ERA with four quality starts in the first five games of the homestand. Freeland couldn’t continue that trend, giving up four runs on six hits in 6 1/ 3 innings, but given the current state of Colorado’s offense, it didn’t really matter.
The Dodgers nearly blew the game open in the fourth but the gritty Freeland was able to limit the damage to just two runs. Seager — who finished a triple short of the cycle — led off with a 424foot liner into the right- field seats, and then the Dodgers packed the bases with two outs when Freeland’s inside pitch barely grazed Chris Taylor. The Rockies no doubt took a deep breath when Ríos drove the ball deep to left but the Rockies’ Raimel Tapia caught it on the warning track for the final out.
The Rockies plated a 2- 0 lead in the first inning by doing something they have failed to do most of this season: string together solid at- bats. Tapia led off with a single, Story doubled and Charlie Blackmon drove home Tapia with a sacrifice fly to right. When Pillar drove in Story with a two- out single, the cheers from the Rockies bench reverberated through the mostly empty ballpark.
But then Dodgers left- hander Julio Urías shut up the Rockies, setting down 13 in a row before Tapia reached on an error on a hard grounder off third baseman Edwin Ríos’ glove to lead off the sixth. But Urias got Story to fly out to right and Blackmon to ground out to third. Into the game came reliever Dylan Floro, who got the slumping Nolan Arenado to foul out to first.