After a glorious walk-off win on Monday night, the Colorado Rockies looked to take Game 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, continuing a positive trend.
However, the Dodgers were relentless from the first inning, and the Rockies never caught up, losing 10-4.
The Rockies offense tried, but the Dodgers were back to being the Dodgers
Given the first-inning struggles of the Rockies’ rotation, it’s unsurprising that the Dodgers got on the board first.
After Austin Gomber got two quick outs, he walked Will Smith, who scored on a Freddie Freeman double; Freeman, then, went on to score following a Teoscar Hernández double.
When the first inning ended, the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead after the Rockies were a quick three-up, three down.
Alex Call added a lead-off homer in the second to make the score 3-0. Add to that a Shohei Ohtani bomb three batters later, and the score was 4-0.
Warming Bernabel got a leadoff single in the second, but the Rockies were unable to bring him home.
The Dodgers added on to their lead in the third with Call bringing home Freeman and Miguel Rojas scoring Hernández. Before the Dodgers’ half of the third had ended, the score was 7-0 (s’ocat, indeed), and Gomber had thrown 75 pitches. By the time Yanquiel Fernández saw his first at-bat in the third inning, Ohtani and Mookie Betts had already had three.
Ryan Ritter hit a single in the third (and knocked down first base umpire Lance Barksdale in the process) followed by a Tyler Freeman walk, but the Rockies failed to score.
Finally in the fourth inning with Anthony Molina pitching in relief, the Dodgers failed to score (and there was the rare instance of Freddie Freeman hitting into a double play).
A red-hot Brenton Doyle got the Rockies on the board in the fourth with a two-run homer (439 ft). It was the fifth homer he hit in August.
When the fourth inning ended, the score was 7-2 Dodgers.
After that the game settled down until the sixth inning when Kyle Karros truly entered the MLB chat.
The two-run homer made the score 7-4 Dodgers with a resilient Rockies team trying to gain traction for another come-from-behind win.
“It was good to see that smile coming around, just like Yanquiel a couple of weeks ago,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said.
But they would never catch up.
Molina stayed with it through the top of the seventh when he allowed two hits before getting the first out of the inning.
Nick Anderson entered in relief. A passed ball allowed Andy Pages to score, and Ohtani earned an RBI as well, making the score 9-4. Before the Dodgers’ half of the seventh ended, the score was 10-4.
Emmet Sheehan’s fastball-slider combo worked until he left the game after the sixth, and the Rockies struggled against it. His final line was 6.0 IP with six hits and four runs (all earned), two walks, and seven Ks on 91 pitches.
(Also notable, eight of the Dodgers runs came with two outs.)
The Rockies were unable to score again after Karros’ home run. They finished the evening with four runs on eight hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. They were also 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Austin Gomber: Just not his night
Austin Gomber’s track record against the Dodgers has not been good, and that did not change tonight.
The lefty lasted only three innings, giving up seven runs (all earned) on nine hits. He surrendered two home runs, struck out two, and walked two.
In the midst of a 17-game run, the Rockies had hoped to give their bullpen an easy night, but that didn’t happen.
“I thought he got ahead well, but I think he missed locations,” Schaeffer said. “Just a tough day for Gomby.”
Bullpen: (Mostly) doing their jobs
A running concern now is bullpen exhaustion, and tonight’s game did little to relieve the Rockies on that front.
Anthony Molina took over in the fourth, and promptly slowed down the Dodgers’ offense. He was good through three innings and finished the evening giving up three hits, two runs (both earned), and one walk. The Rockies desperately needed length from Molina, and he delivered.
“That was huge tonight,” Schaeffer said, noting that Molina “pitched well.”
Over 1 ?
? innings, Nick Anderson gave up one run (earned) on two hits. He also walked one and struck out one.
However, it was not Dugan Darnell’s best outing. In one inning of work, he surrendered one run on two hits. He also walked one.
Coming next
The Dodgers are now 72-54 while the Rockies fall to 36-90.
Join us tomorrow at 6:40 pm for Game 3 when Shohei Ohtani will face Tanner Gordon.
It’s also Charity Night, so get out your formal wear.
See you then.
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